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Chapter 6:He knew it was too good to be true

Everything was in a haze. Everything hurt. The nerves in his system crackled horribly. Damage reports filled his vision to the point he could barely see. Drift wanted it to stop. He wanted it all to stop. The thought of it happening again…

There were shaking hands on his frame. Ratchet. His face. The expression felt off. He was scared. It wasn't right.

He had said something to Ratchet. He couldn't remember.

Jeering voices all around. Casually discussing what they were going to do to him. Broken fragments from his dream flashed through his vision. Nothing was left to the imagination.

Kaon approached again. Warnings screamed in his processor, circuits burning so intensely he couldn't stand it.

"Get away from him. Right. Now."

Ratchet was moving towards them threateningly, EM field bursting with rage. Drift tried to get up, to stop him, but his legs wouldn't respond.

"None of you slag-faced freaks are going to lay a single hand on him again."

Ratchet's face was twisted in pain, their hands on him. Drift could hear his screams over his own voice begging for them to stop.

Ratchet was facing Helex now. No. No no no.

"You want a toy so bad? Take me instead."

"That's cute, you guys really are sparkmates aren't you? I'll humor you then."

Walls crumbled as he broke through the doorway, barely fitting underneath the Medibay ceiling. Skinny arms reached out and grabbed Ratchet.

Panic filled his systems. "Ratchet! Ratchet, stop-!"

« Sorry, Drift. I can't sit here and let them hurt you anymore »

There was the whirring sound of a transformation cog activating the chamber in Helex's chest. Ratchet was pulled towards it. Drift threw himself off the slab, but crumpled to the ground, unable to get his pedes under him.

He heard a struggle. Someone cried out in pain.

It wasn't Ratchet.

"No! Get him!"

Helex was gripping his smaller arms, energon dripping from the scalpels sticking out. He stomped after Ratchet, who had leaped onto Tarn and was wedging something into his shoulder. Ratchet was thrown onto the ground.

"Someone's feeling bold, aren't they?"

"Dammit. Almost… had it."

A fusion cannon pointed at him. Ratchet jumped on him again, jamming his hand into the seam of Tarn's shoulder. Something shifted. Tarn grabbed Ratchet by the throat and yanked him off.

"You've outlived your purpose I'd say. I have another medic at my dis-"

Tarn's hand suddenly went slack as his transformation sequence began, and Ratchet dropped to the floor.

"Aid… anytime…now…"

"Very funny. Very cute. But I will decide when I change form, no one else."

Tarn had changed back to his root mode and towered over Ratchet. Only to be tackled to the ground by a bot much larger than him.

Something flew past and crashed into the wall. The ground shook, pieces of the ceiling crumbling down. Figures moved just out of his line of sight. Everything was happening too quickly. He couldn't make sense of anything around him. Drift's chest tightened, he lost sight of Ratchet.

Drift tried to crawl to where he'd last seen the medic, but his joints ached horribly and refused to move.

"Ah. There you are."

Black holes bore into him. Kaon. He was making his way over. Overcome with panic, Drift tried to get up, to move, but the mech was getting closer and his Primus forsaken legs wouldn't work.

"Looking forward to our time together, Deadlock?" Arms shoved him roughly to the ground.

Pulling himself up to his knees, Drift held back the screaming urge to kick the bot's shins in. He had to cooperate. For Ratchet's sake.

"You seemed awfully eager to come back here. Maybe I should bring your doctor friend too?"

Energon lines ran cold. " You said no one else would be hurt-!"

Kaon crouched down. "Oh I never said anything of the sort… but if that's what Tarn wants, so be it. Although…" Hands brushed by his helm. "There's no harm in letting him listen, is there? It's just too bad he's still offline."

Drift glared.

Kaon suddenly gripped his helm fins, making him freeze up.

"Aren't these cute. They seem awfully sensitive."

The only warning Drift got was a crackle of energy and the world went white. An awful, alien sound screeched from his vocalizer. He was on fire. Every single wire, every circuit. Everything burned.

The grip released. Drift collapsed, heaving.

"Hmm, really thought you'd last longer than that. Maybe I overdid it. Oh well. We have plenty of time to work it out, don't we?"

Kaon reached down to where he was still gasping on the ground-

Hands on his shoulder. Alerts screamed in Drift's processor.

A soft voice picked up through the blaring alarms in his head. "Hey, it's alright… It's just me. Let's get you out of here."

Sturdy arms carefully scooped him up. Ratchet stood shakily, trying to support Drift's weight. He trudged past Kaon, laying twitching in an ever growing puddle of his own rust.

The broken doorway was clear, right ahead of them. Ratchet stopped to look back at the chaos.

"Ratchet! Go! Go now!" First Aid crawled out from behind the slab.

"But-"

"You've done all you can. He's got the big one occupied and the strain Tarn's cog has taken should activate the virus much faster- just go-!" He pushed Ratchet forward.

"Forgive me, Max…"

And then he was running.

---

Walls rushed by in a blur. Ratchet glanced down as he ran and their optics met. His expression wavered briefly before looking back up.

Drift tried to ignore the screams. He could still hear them. Echoing from every corner of the ship. His own screams… Ratchet's screams. Ratchet couldn't hear them. It wasn't real. But he was. So Drift put all his effort into studying the features of his face, to keep him grounded in reality. But the longer he looked, the more Ratchet's face began morphing into something horrifying. Expression twisted in agony- optics drilled out-something was shoved inside his mouth- Drift quickly looked away.

Pedes stumbled and Ratchet leaned onto the wall to steady them. "-Too damn… heavy."

"Put me down then." He didn't like how his vocoder crackled with static as the words came out.

"No." Ratchet shoved off the wall and kept trudging forward, slower now.

Ratchet grumbled to himself as a limp began developing in his step. "What're you gonna do anyway? Crawl?"

"…Maybe."

Ratchet stopped to readjust his hold on him and Drift failed to stifle the hiss of pain that slipped out.

A pause. "Where does it hurt?" His voice was softer now.

Drift considered lying, but was too exhausted to care at that point.

"Everywhere."

The ground shook. Worry momentarily flashed across Ratchet's face. His pace picked up again.

"Hang in there. We're almost out. We'll get someone to repair you soon."

Realization of the situation hit him suddenly and Drift's optics went wide.

"Wait-! What happened to- Did you leave them? With the DJD-?!"

"Hold on- calm down-"

Drift pushed himself out of Ratchet's arms, dropping hard to the ground. The impact nearly knocked him offline, white-hot pain shooting through his frame.

Ratchet's hands were on him again. "Idiot. You're going to hurt yourself."

"You're an idiot. We can't just leave them. They'll be- they'll be slaughtered, Ratchet."

Swords meant to protect now skewered his legs, pinning him down. Something ripped into him. He had no choice but to look forward, right into the cruel optics of his killers, unable to bear seeing those already dead beside him. It would be over soon. It had to.

Drift's vents quickened. He tried to get up, but his body wouldn't cooperate. The swords were still in his legs. He could feel them. Desperately pawing at his legs, Drift tried to pull them out. There was nothing there.

"My vision. I didn't- I didn't stop it. It's still going to happen. Everyone's going to die. You're going to-"

Ratchet grabbed his shoulders. "It's alright. The virus has been activated. Fort Max is keeping them distracted until it takes full effect-"

"And how many will they kill before that happens?"

"I had to get you out of there, Drift. You're not going back. Any more and you would've… I wouldn't be able to fix you."

"But Pipes is in there-!"

If they did the same thing to him…

Trying once again to lift himself up, Drift collapsed and broke into a vicious coughing fit- smoke trailing out in large puffs.

Thick, black clouds churned out of him. Was that what his circuits smelled like? Remnants of electric charge still danced across charred plating. Every labored breath was agony. His optics were locked on Ratchet's back in an attempt to block it all out, but Drift soon found himself unable to keep his helm up.

"You want it to stop? Hmm?" Quiet, scratchy whispers in his audials.

Vocoder glitching sparks. No words came out.

Kaon's arm transformed and gently took his face, turning his helm to where Ratchet was holding Pipes.

"I'm sure your friend could help you. Make it all end. Why don't you ask him?"

Drift tried shaking his helm, but could only tremble.

"Oh wait, that's right. Silly me. You can't ask him- because you killed him with your own hands."

Drift woke up gasping. It was dark. Bitter cold, but a soothing warmth enveloped his chassis.

Arms were wrapped tightly around him, holding him close. Ratchet.

And they were… outside. In the snow. Drift didn't recall going outside.

"…Ratchet? What-?"

"You went offline…you were screaming."

Drift bristled.

"…I'm assuming you don't want to talk about it."

"No."

Drift tried to stand, pushing up off Ratchet before he suddenly froze, memory catching up with him. "Wait-!"

"Before you try running off again- not that you even can- Pipes is fine. I was going to tell you before I got interrupted." Ratchet tapped his helm. " Still communicating with First Aid. He's kept me up to date. Says he got everyone that could walk to evacuate while they were distracted- no more casualties as far as I'm aware."

"… And the DJD?"

"Totally incapacitated. I guess it's their turn to know what it feels like to melt from the inside."

Drift grimaced as he slumped back down.

"Sorry… memories too fresh huh."

Ratchet shifted, tugging Drift closer. "Slaggers deserve it though."

"…And what are we doing?" Finally taking in their surroundings, he noted they were currently sitting under a ridge jutting out from the mountain nearby.

"Resting. My legs gave out. Can't walk, much less haul your heavy aft through this snow. We're close enough to the Lost Light to get a signal. I've already alerted them of our position."

Reaching around the medic's back, Drift returned the hug, snuggling up to his chestplate, hoping to get some of Ratchet's frame heat to stave off the bitter cold. "So we're stuck out here until they find us. In the dark."

"Yup. Pretty much."

Gaze wandering to the only thing visible in the pitch blackness of night, Drift watched the stars flicker in the distance. He hadn't realized how much time had passed. The black sky swallowed up his vision. A deep, dark pit.

Dark holes for optics.

Drills in Ratchet's face-

Ratchet patted his arm. "Hey. How are you feeling?"

Glowing optics looked down at him. No dark holes.

"…Better? I think?" Drift paused, belatedly aware that the intense throbbing had subsided to a dull ache.

"Good. I found some extra blockers jammed in my subspace. They should hold you over until someone can get you… properly repaired. Someone who's actually able to be of use."

He knew this would happen.

"Don't even start. You did what you could. I'm still alive because of you."

Hands clasped on his back trembled lightly. "You're alive because your spark was strong enough to hold on until I finally got my act together and did something. I let them have their way with you far too long. I should've stopped them sooner."

Drift dragged his helm up to properly glare with optic contact. but he couldn't read the other's expression from the dim flicker of their biolights.

"Ratchet. They had the whole medical facility hostage. That included you. The best- the only option- was to let them take me. Otherwise they would've…"

"There had to have been another way-"

"No." Images flashed through his processor and Drift shook his helm vigorously to ward them off. "Any other way, and everyone would be dead."

He cut Ratchet off before he could interject. "You can choose to believe me or not, but I saw what I saw. I still see it. Constantly. What could've been. What would've been. Sometimes it's on the Lost Light. Others it's here. Regardless- everyone dies. Horribly."

The pounding in his processor was getting unbearable. Drift grabbed his helm with shaking hands. "It's getting to the point I can't even tell what's a memory anymore. It all feels real. I don't even know if this is real. I'm just going to wake back up and they'll be back soon. The rest of them. They're still coming. They're-"

Hands gently took the sides of his helm.

"You can choose to believe me or not, but-right now? This is real. No one is going to die. They aren't going to hurt you again."

"No. No no. I've fallen for this before. I know I have. It's too good to be real. I'm only dreaming this up because I'm going to die soon." It was getting difficult to breathe, cold air tearing at his intake.

"Drift…"

"No! No, Ratchet. You don't understand. You don't know what I did to you. The real you. Not- not this cruel dream version of you."

A feeling of dread flooded back into his systems, suffocating him. This was a sick, twisted dream. Giving him exactly what he wanted. He would wake up soon. With the reality of what he did. Just in time for it all to end. He could never have this. It wasn't something he ever deserved.

Ratchet was saying something, but his words made no sense. Drift felt the pull of unconsciousness begin to take him again.

He knew it was too good to be true.

They were taking their time. Ratchet sobbed in agony beside him. They had turned their cruelty away from Drift, leaving him immobile next to Ratchet, fully aware that forcing him to watch would be far more horrible. He couldn't take it anymore. If this is what they wanted to drive him to do, so be it. He wouldn't allow them to make Ratchet suffer any longer. He didn't deserve that. He was a good person.

Drift wrapped his hand around the hilt of the single blade not already piercing his frame, left out in reaching distance to mock him.

"I'm sorry…Ratchet…"

Maybe in another life things could've been different.

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