"Report." It was the voice of a tyrant with the weight of an order from Primus himself.

The seeker he addressed gathered his datapads and began reading. "List of the offlined in the wake of the attack on Central: Sentinel Prime; Snipeshot; Transarm..."

Megatron tuned out for the majority of the list. It was the final anecdote, the last few names on the 'MIA, presumed offlined' that brought his attention back.

"...Dion; Aurora Pax; Steelcraft..."

She shouldn't have been anywhere near Central that day. She'd told him she was going away. He'd gone ahead with the attack because he knew she'd be-

He wasn't going to lie to himself. He would have preferred that she was safe, but it was of no real consequence to his goals that she hadn't been.

He ignored the sudden hurt in his spark and returned to the debriefing. "Intelligence reports? What is the current tension in the city? Is it still opposed to us, or have we crushed the previous regime already?"

The seeker twitched visibly. "There are... rumours, of a new Prime, my lord," he reported nervously. "One selected in the wake of our attack. He has proved a rallying point for the survivors; tensions are still high and resistance more so."

"What?" Megatron rose to his full height and glared at the cowering flier. "Why was I not informed of this sooner?"

"It has only just come to our attention!" The seeker hurried to appease his commander. "We informed you the moment we could confirm the rumour, my lord, and will continue to do so as soon as we have more information on the matter."

Megatron sank back into his throne, brooding. "Very well, then," he dismissed the seeker. "I want updates the moment anything- unconfirmed or fact- is discovered."

"Yes, my lord," the seeker managed to get out, before fleeing the chamber.

Instead of seeing it entirely as a nuisance, Megatron began thinking in terms of an opportunity. He had assassinated one Prime already; if he did the same to this new, unsteady upstart, could he steal the Matrix for his own ends?

It would require much planning, he realised- orns of it, maybe. He sat back comfortably and started working on the bare struts of an idea.

The message was an unwelcome surprise.

This is Megatron, leader of the Decepticons. I hear a new Prime has arisen. Would he do me the honour of a meeting in a designated neutral zone at sunset on the next cycle, so we can discuss a potential future for Cybertron?

"Don't go," Ironhide said immediately. He was an old military model (predating even Megatron) whose opinion she heard and relied on regularly during these first few orns of her leadership. "He killed Sentinel Prime personally; he wants a shot at you now, and the Matrix itself."

Bellona Prime stood still as the message replayed itself. Her lieutenants, many of them from the remnants of Central's enforcer units, bickered around her as to the reasons behind Megatron's offer. Ironhide was the most vocal, having known Sentinel personally before his assassination.

"I will go," she said suddenly. "Use the same frequency he reached us on, and give him the co-ordinates to," she paused, wondering if it was a good idea, "the co-ordinates of the old dockyard, before he destroyed it. Tell him the new Prime will meet him at the appointed time, in this place. Do not give him my name."

As the arguments started again, she cut them off with a raised hand. "You will not dissuade me on this." She locked optics with each of them. "And I have it on good authority that he will not want to kill me."

"What authority?" Siren asked, suspicion in his tone. It was to be expected, she realised, after reviewing her words. He had been responsible for enforcer intel; he had to be able to sift good information from lies. For lack of any similar job, she had asked him to man the comms and monitor the Decepticon frequencies they knew of; to glean any possible information on their movements from the brief snatches he picked up. So far, it had been a fruitless job.

"An old friend of mine died in those docks," she answered, reluctance in every word. "He knew her also, and regrets her offlining. He will not kill me." She forced herself to stop there. She didn't know any of these mechs personally and was unwilling to share her background with them.

Her status as Prime was shaky. That the Matrix had selected a femme, one with no military knowledge and barely any fighting experience, made few of them willing to truly believe in her despite her willingness to learn. She briefly regretted sending Ultra Magnus to Polyhex, to sound out the tensions in the city, as he would have been a solid supporter of her actions but she had needed somebody she could trust to do the job.

At that point in time, there was only him. Arie- Elita One, she had barely seen since they'd been upgraded; they'd exchanged but a few words and the awkward gulf that appeared when it was just the two of them was more apparent than ever. Last she had heard, Elita was working independently to convince more of the 'traditional' femmes to pick up weapons. She was planning to create a guerrilla-style fighting unit that hit quickly and retreated quicker. If she was successful, the Prime had yet to hear of it.

"You're so certain Megatron won't kill you, because of this?" Ironhide asked doubtfully.

With no small trace of irony, she replied, "I'd stake my spark on it."

As things went, it was a rather effective way of ending the discussion.

Despite her cocky reassurances, Bellona didn't have as much confidence as she led her lieutenants to believe. Her frame had changed so much Megatron was unlikely to recognise her; as far as he knew, she was offlined in the attack on the docks.

She spotted him immediately as she passed into the neutral zone. He had his back to her in a typical display of arrogance and started talking before he turned around.

"You are more naive than I'd expected, though I can hear your lieutenants from here and see it is less than I'd hoped. If I were to kill you now, I would still have no chance of stealing your-"

He turned and cut off abruptly as she stopped five paces away from him. There was disbelief on his face, sorrow and regret that she refused to let comfort her. She was Bellona Prime. Aurora Pax was offlined.

How he still recognised her, she didn't know. Was it in her walk, or her expression? Viciously, she decided that she no longer wanted him to read her like he had in the past, and employed her new face plates that hid everything except her optics. If she had truly been so blind as to never really see him, behind his frame into what he was thinking-

-he would never again have the chance to see the same in her.

Megatron just stared at her; at her new form. He blinked when the shield covered her expression from him, and a sense of loss was seen in his optics before he could hide it.

She was as tall as him now. They faced each other in the designated neutral zone, and neither one knew what to say. Whatever his reasons for this meeting, assassination excepted, he appeared to have forgotten them.

"So this is why," he indicated their surroundings with a jerky wave. "I thought you were offlined, I thought I was responsible for your death. But instead-"

He stopped and ground his denta together in frustration. She said nothing, so he continued. "You weren't supposed to be there," he said. "Aurora-"

"That doesn't make it okay!" She burst out, yelling over him. "Whether I was there or not is immaterial; can't you see this isn't the way to make your case to Cybertron! All you are doing is killing off anybody who might have once been sympathetic to your cause!"

"No! Aurora Pax, can't you see this isn't some uprising muttered about in the back bars of Central! This is a full scale rebellion trying to set things right on our planet- this is our future!" He spread his hands at the last point, gesturing expansively. All Bellona Prime could see was the fusion cannon mounted on his arm. She'd never seen him wearing it before.

He saw where her optics were looking, and sighed, dropping his arms again. "Some sacrifices must be made," he explained heavily, needlessly in her opinion. "This is a revolution."

"This is a military usurpation and a massacre," she replied shortly. Then she grinned, darker than he'd ever seen before. "And do you know the best bit?"

She trailed a hand down her chest plate, undoing the catches that held it in place. While Megatron stared, she bared her inner wiring, her spark-casing, energon and coolant lines that if ruptured, would prove off-lining. Then he saw the crystal nestled in underneath her spark, glowing softly with golden light.

"Is that-" he started asking hoarsely, unbelieving of what he was seeing.

"The Matrix of Leadership," she answered bluntly. "It came to me when they were fixing me up in the wake of your attack on Central."

"Then-" Megatron looked lost in a way she'd never seen before, so she cut across him again.

"I would never have gone with you, Megatron. Even before this," she placed a hand over the Matrix; golden light silhouetted her palm, "I was opposed to the rebellion you started. I can't believe how blind I was." She shook her cranium sadly and started doing up the clasps again. "But you aren't looking at Aurora Pax anymore, dockworker and outcast femme. Now you are facing Bellona Prime, chosen from our people to stand up for Cybertron and defend it from mechs like you, who think force is the only answer to their problems."

"Force is our last resort when-"

"Slag it, so it should be!" She shouted. "But you haven't even tried to make your points heard any other way!"

"We did try!" He yelled back. "We tried for vorns before I even met you, but nobody would listen to us because we were military models. They disdained our opinions and thought us little better than violent turbo-rats scrabbling over the last bit of oil! Force is the only way to gain their attention, but you can't possibly understand this, can you?"

"Prove me wrong, then," she shot back. "I am Prime of our people, and I will listen. Call off your attacks, sit down with me right now and see if we can salvage something from the scrap here."

Megatron stopped himself saying what first crossed his CPU. She knew what his answer would be, had known it since she first accepted her new name, could see it in the clenching of his fists and slight shaking of his cranium.

"I can't," he said simply. "It's too late for that now."

She nodded once, decisively. "Then you've made your choice. This is all I have to say to you." She turned and walked towards the gate her allies had gathered behind.

"Aurora-"

"Bellona Prime," she corrected him, without looking back.

"Bellona," he started again, voice raised. "I'm sorry." It was a feeble thing to say, and she let him feel every bit of the derision she thought it deserved.

She stopped but did not turn. "You aren't sorry. You've already said, this was in the works before you even met me. I was a distraction from your plans at best, a charming piece of innocence and ignorance for you to enjoy when you weren't killing off your fellow Cybertronians. Don't patronise me now, don't disrespect every mech and femme you've killed or had killed in your name by telling me you're sorry."

She took a deep breath, intakes expanding, before stepping forwards again. Try as she might to ignore it, his words were still audible.

"I cared for you. Honestly and deeply. You weren't a distraction; you were someone I wanted at my side as we revolutionised our planet."

Frag it, she thought. Unable to deny her anger, she turned and faced him without any weapons involved. "You can't even say it; how do you expect me to believe you? You loved me, Megatron. And I loved you."

It was the first time such a thing had been said between the two. She hoped his spark felt as tired as hers.

"Aurora Pax loved you, Megatron. But no more. This war will be personal enough without dragging our history into it."

He looked her up and down like he had at her first meeting; an assessment. Then he nodded in admission, and dare she think it, respect?

"Bellona Prime," he mused out loud. "You were named for this war. Reborn for it. Yet you have the bearings to say it isn't the answer?" He raised an optic ridge, begging her to disagree.

She glared back at him. "The difference between you and I, Megatron, is that you asked for it." She glanced pointedly at his arm then behind him, where his own allies gathered. "I, on the other hand, was brought into it by chance and the will of Primus."

"You didn't start this war, but by Primus, you'll finish it?" He said, tone snide and mocking.

She didn't see the humour of the situation. She turned her back again and spoke the last words over her shoulder, looking back for the final time. "Yes, Megatron. I will."

She walked away, and finally, she let Aurora Pax go. She left the last link to that life staring at her from neutral ground, and felt no sorrow or bitterness in doing so.

Bellona Prime passed through the gate and rejoined her lieutenants. They started the long trek back to their headquarters; Ironhide gazed at her shrewdly as he walked beside her.

"Who was Aurora Pax?" he asked, direct and to the point.

Bellona Prime replied without hesitation. "Just somebody he used to know. Somebody he killed in Central city when the docks were attacked."

"Hm." He grabbed her arm and took her to the side to make a small bubble of privacy while they continued walking. Bellona let him; she needed his respect and confidence if she had any hope of inspiring the same in the rest of her people. "Will she cause any problems if say, she were forced into conflict with him?"

She met his optics squarely, but saw only honest inquiry, a tactical need-to-know. It cooled her ire somewhat. "Like I said, Aurora Pax is dead. I may be a femme, but I am also your Prime, reborn on the cusp of a war and selected to lead our people through it. I do not have any problems with the upcoming conflicts I will be fighting in."

Ironhide surveyed her for a few more moments before dropping his optics. "Very good then." He stopped moving and for the first time, he saluted her. "Prime. What duties do you have for me?"

She stopped with him and stared him down, but there was nothing ironic in his address or his question. So she mulled over the current situation and brought up what she thought were the most vital points. "We need information. Find someone skilled in retrieval and if you can, covert ops. We need to know what the other side is doing, what they are capable of. Then recruitment. They've had vorns to gather their numbers; we need to start doing the same."

"Permission to speak freely, Prime?"

She glared at him for the question. "You know as well as I do that I'm out of my depth. When have you ever needed permission?"

He looked to the side as if searching for strength before asking his question. "Then, what is Megatron capable of, Prime? You might be our best source of information in that matter."

Bellona felt like she'd been punched in the midsection. "What is-?" She clenched her fists. "Honestly, Ironhide? I don't think I've ever known the answer to that question."

"Did she?"

Bellona knew who he was asking about. "No. She was blinded by ignorance and innocence, and he found it too charming to enlighten her."

He let out a hiss in reply. "Covert ops, then? Prioritise the gathering of information, and recruitment?"

"That is what I would suggest. Do you have anything to add?" She checked her internal chronometer and realised her meeting with the representatives of Praxus was coming up soon. She started walking again, needing the time to collect herself.

"No." Ironhide was looking at her strangely, as though he wasn't quite sure what he was seeing anymore. "No, that's what I would have suggested. Prime." He saluted again, then jogged ahead to catch up with the others, delegating orders as he saw fit.

She considered the last look he gave her, and decided it could only be a compliment. Far from the naive femme she once was, she now held the responsibility over the fate of her people. She couldn't afford to be that femme anymore.

The sun was just rising over the city's skyline. "Goodbye, Aurora Pax," she said softly, unheard by her soldiers. She subspaced her new weapon after a moment's consideration, feeling the weight of it settle in her palms.

Bellona Prime strode towards headquarters, cranium held high and gun in her hands.

She had a war to finish.

Dion- no, she had to remember it was Ultra Magnus now, wasn't it?- had onlined three cycles before her; his injuries and subsequent upgrades hadn't been as severe as hers. That had been five cycles ago now, and since the disastrous conversation between them this was the first time he'd sought her presence.

"What's it like?" He asked curiously, watching her pace and get used to her new centre of balance.

"What's what like?" she echoed, truthfully not feeling up for his questions. "The Matrix? The renaming, the new frame? What?"

"All of the above," he said. Dion would have made a joke of it, but she couldn't see much of her old friend in this new body. She wondered if it would be the same for her, a complete personality reboot.

"It's-" she broke off, not knowing what to say. "It hasn't really sunk in yet. Call me Aurora Pax and I'll still answer to it." It was like a strut snapping, and the words came flying out. "I know nothing about weapons or tactics, and suddenly because of a shiny crystal these people expect me to lead them into battle? I don't know how to fight outside of a bar brawl, I don't know what my new frame is capable of or how to fire a gun or anything about waging a war!"

"Calm down!" Ultra Magnus was suddenly there in front of her, hands reaching up to clasp her shoulders. She was even taller now; possibly the tallest femme he'd ever seen. "You were chosen for this, you were meant to do this. Even if you don't have faith in yourself, I have faith in you."

She looked at him, really looked at him until he had to look away. He couldn't meet the sadness in her optics. "I don't even have my new name yet. I'm no longer Aurora Pax, but I can't sense the new name the Matrix has designated me. What kind of leader will I be if I can't even sense my own name out of the slagging thing?"

He slapped her, metal clanging as his hand struck her face plate. "I have faith in you," he repeated. "Are you done with your self-pity? Stop doubting yourself; you were chosen by Primus Almighty to help our people through a war, and I don't think Primus makes mistakes of this magnitude. I know this isn't a mistake." He stared her down, forcing her to see the sincerity of his words. "Now, what do I call you?"

She tried one last time for him, switching off her optics and focussing on the 'slagging' crystal that slotted in beneath her spark casing. With no small amount of bravado, she imagined herself in the only fighting scenario she could imagine- a bar brawl, her against the leader of- against Megatron. Part of her new identity was letting go of her blindness, she decided then and there. She was meant to show him the error of his ways and if she could, she would save him.

She knew she wouldn't be able to save him. It would come down to war, she knew. The rebellion had already begun, she had to stop it, if she-

No. No if. She had to stop it. She would fight to save what was left of her people, and for their way of life. She would crush this rebellion if she had to, kill every last one of them-

-would she? Could she kill even Megatron, if it meant saving her people?-

-could she?

War shouldn't be the answer. War should be the last resort.

But she would not let her people be slaughtered because they wouldn't pick up a weapon. And if some of them couldn't fight, she would fight for them.

She could. It killed off a little more of her previous self, but she could, if it came down to it.

She had a lot to learn. There was no other way, and she had been reborn on the cusp of a war she couldn't escape. Reborn to lead and to finish this war through any means necessary.

And like that, she heard what the Matrix had been whispering to her for three cycles. It was static suddenly becoming clear, the voice of the stars murmuring in her audio.

Arise, Bellona Prime. Cybertron has need of you.

Bellona. Bellona Prime, named for the war she was reborn to fight.

She powered up her optics and smiled at her friend. "I am Bellona Prime," she announced, somewhat shakily.

"Bellona Prime?" He considered the name before smiling back at her. "It becomes you, more than peace ever did."

She blinked, uncomfortable with the insinuation. "You don't think I was suited to my previous designation? My previous frame?" Her comfort in her own self had been the main thing she prided herself on, a frag-the-planet to those who couldn't accept her.

"No!" he hurried to reassure her. "That's not it at all. It's more like- Aurora Pax was you, wholly and undeniably. But until this," he gestured at the both of them, "until now, she didn't know that a part of her was missing."

"Is that how it is for you?" she asked icily, wanting to share her discomfort."You're suddenly okay with onlining in a whole new world? Ultra Magnus, beyond the great, so superior to what you used to be that you can forget him in a heartbeat?"

"Dion is- Dion was-" he broke off this time, she was viciously pleased to see. Then he visibly strengthened his resolve, and started again with a surer voice. "I've been thinking about this: Dion is but a part of me. He's the part that will keep me positive in the dark cycles of war that we both know are coming. He's the shoulder I hope you know you can lean on should you need to. But he is not my spark. He is a set of black and white memories- stark, untouched by emotions. Like they belonged to someone else, and I got them through a data swap. Dion offlined for good in Central City. Aurora Pax should be allowed that rest also."

He grabbed her hands this time and held them tightly. "You are our Prime, Bellona. Prove to us that the choice was correct."

She cast her optics to the floor, thinking over what he said. When she raised them again, her gaze was clearer.

"If I do this- I can't keep any part of her in me. I must lead our people against her ex-lover and it is likely that I will face him in battle at some point. Di- Ultra Magnus, if I do this, I can't guarantee what will happen. I can't guarantee that I won't freeze up the first time I kill someone, or the first time one of my people dies."

"But you can learn," he replied. "Become what you are meant to be, Bellona Prime. Become all of yourself."

There was a long silence that she finally broke with a whisper. "I am Bellona Prime." Another pause. "I will fight my people, and I will fight to save them. I am Bellona Prime," she repeated, surer this time, "and I am become War.

"And I will learn, and I will fight, and maybe one day- I will finish it. This I swear to you, Primus. You did not choose in error."

She held out a hand to Ultra Magnus. He clasped her wrist instead in a warrior's grip.

She returned his gesture, folding her hand around the delicate components and gripping firmly.

When she first onlined in this frame, everything had felt too big, too slow, too bulky. Like it had immediately that fourth time, so many vorns ago now, her CPU now lit up with messages of right-right-this-is-right.

I am Bellona Prime, and I am become War.

Fini.

The femme/mech difference I based on hormonal differences between humans- they react differently to situations, more or less emotionally depending entirely on their gender. Then there are those within each gender who have different balances to the 'norm' and so react in an entirely different fashion. It's something quite fascinating to me.

I would love to know what you honestly thought of this, if you made it this far. My thanks for reading, regardless.