Arcee can see how hard this is for him, just to talk about, just to think about, but all the same, she still feels that vague sense that she's honored just to listen. Her fingers curl lightly around the edge of his hand, too big for her to grasp properly.

"I can't tell you how you felt," she says, her voice sober. "But I know that it hurt. Optimus never talked about it too much, not -- on a personal level, but...he never let it change him. He never let the war become about revenge for him."