sunchime | [ open post: drift ]

"'A few repairs'? What is your definition of 'a few', exactly? If we tried to get it even up and properly limping enough for it to be able to guide us home we'd be here for weeks. Just because I quit being CMO doesn't mean that First Aid can run the medibay all by himself indefinitely, nobody can. I'd like to be back before something else catastrophic happens, thanks."

Ratchet stands at the ramp to his own shuttle and gestures impatiently.

"C'mon, kid, let's just get out of here, all right?"

"Okay, okay, I'm going. Getting in now. See?"

Drift holds up his hands in a defensive wave, glancing over his shoulder at the planet around them one last time. It's been a long stretch of time since he left the Lost Light, and it somehow seemed like a slow crawl until the last day or so. Then again, change always comes swiftly. With a vented sigh to mask the creaking in his neck -- he's reluctant to admit it, but Ratchet was right, it has been a while since he'd stopped for any repairs -- Drift ducks his head to climb up into the shuttle, but then he pauses, glancing back at Ratchet.

"Wait -- you stepped down as CMO? As in, actually stepped down?"

"Thank you," Ratchet says, but an odd sort of tension bleeds from him once Drift is safely aboard and the doors are clamped shut. At least until Drift speaks again. Ratchet looks back at him, his optics pale and unreadable.

"Well, I didn't know how long I was going to be gone, and I couldn't leave the ship without one. He's ready anyway--he's been ready. It was time."

Drift eases himself into one of the station chairs, but he hasn't quite relaxed yet himself, giving Ratchet a contemplative look.

"Were you ready?"

Ratchet keeps right on looking at Drift with that expression for a long moment before he turns to the shuttle controls, starting to
prep for launch.

"I was ready to come bring you home."

Drift had never really let himself fantasize much about being returned to the Lost Light. He'd told Rodimus that it was he who had to leave, that Rodimus had to stay the course and fulfill what Drift was sure was prophecy. But even so, he wouldn't have expected Ratchet of all people to jump ship and come looking for him.

Maybe he should have.

"Oh." Drift rubs his hands over his knees, feeling out cracks and dents in the plating he's never bothered to repair or scuff out. This is -- weird. He's had his own kind of epiphany, started to see what he really has to offer and that maybe, just maybe, he deserves to have his old home back, but it's still new and weird. "So...everyone knows about Overlord now, huh?"

They weren't supposed to know, that was the point -- but apparently it's all been blown wide open now. He wonders if Prowl ever got what was coming to him for his part in all this.

"Yeah, everybody knows. We were on Luna-1, uh--it's a long story, and one that you should hear, but to this particular point... a killswitch had been put together to murder everyone who'd ever been constructed cold. Rodimus and our half of the Matrix were rigged up to something to stop it, and it might have killed him, so he told Magnus and everybody else what had happened with Overlord in case he didn't make it."

Ratchet sees those dents and scrapes, his fingers itching to do something about them, but he stays quiet for now.

"He did, for the record, he's fine. But everybody still knew, after that."

Drift should probably be inured to the sheer inanity of the Lost Light's usual adventures, but somehow finding a dead Metrotitan doesn't really seem to rank. His mouth opens as soon as Ratchet says Luna-1 and it stays open for a good few moments after he's done talking.

"You found Luna-1?" Okay, a cold-constructed killswitch is equally crazy, but it isn't one of Cybertron's great mysteries. He's absurdly relieved to hear that Rodimus is alright -- if something had happened to him while Drift was gone... He rubs his forehelm, trying to process all that at once. It's not as though he doesn't understand a guilty conscience. "Right. Well -- that makes sense, I guess. So that's when you left to come find me?"

Edited 2017-11-15 18:30 (UTC)

Ratchet's shoulders hunch in a little and the corners of his mouth tighten.

"...no. Not quite then. Some stuff happened in between. Shockwave almost ended the world, for a bit, some time travel happened, and--oh, yeah, Brainstorm's a Decepticon. Was a Decepticon. A really bad one, actually. It was... complicated." Ratchet shakes his helm a little. "It hasn't been that long since I set out looking for you. I should have come sooner."

If it were anyone else -- or if Ratchet had any other expression on his face -- Drift might suspect Ratchet was just trying to mess with him. But no, this is...entirely serious. Brainstorm's a Decepticon? Time travel? Shockwave trying to -- wait, no. That one doesn't sound quite as insane.

"Well, I was going to ask you what you guys have been up to in the last year, but I guess that pretty much answers my question." He shakes his head and waves Ratchet off. "You clearly had your hands full, Ratchet. I don't need should. Live in the moment, remember?"

Ratchet hesitates, watching Drift for a moment before he shakes his helm

"A lot happened. We have enough of a ride back to the ship to go over it all." He eyes Drift critically for a moment as he keys in the homing signal and sets the autopilot. "You, however, look like you haven't bothered with maintenance since you left. I'm not shocked, but are you all right?"

A lot to talk about is right. Drift waves off Ratchet's concern with an entirely irritating smile.

"I'm fine, Ratchet. I'm still running, aren't I?" A medical interrogation is not what Drift really wants right now. Fortunately for him, he spots a convenient subject change in the form of what looks like a little toy figure on the dashboard, apparently having toppled over at some point.

"Oh, hey, what's this little guy?" He picks it up delicately with two fingers and holds the toy up. His optics brighten and he lets out a little laugh. "Is this supposed to be me?"

"'Still running' and 'fine' are not exactly the same thing, Drift," Ratchet says severely before he's drawn up short. He'd meant to put that away before Drift got back on the shuttle, but considering everything that had happened...

Ratchet shrugs a little. "There's a new member of the crew--a couple new members, actually, but this one makes miniatures. He had one of almost everybody, but he'd never met you, so I--" He gestures at the little figurine. "I did one for him, so he could see."

"You made this?"

It might come off as incredulous from someone else (like, say, Rodimus), but Drift just looks...kind of delighted. Maybe it's just because he's tired, and the last day or so has put him through the wringer, more emotionally than mentally, but the usual façade is gone. No false optimism or cheer -- just a real smile. Those have been pretty rare as of late. Drift holds the little figure up to the light, turning it over with a curious eye.

"And then you took it with you." He lowers his hand and holds the figure out to Ratchet. "I guess 'cause you were planning on bringing the real thing back."

Ratchet looks at the figure for a moment, his expression utterly unreadable before he cycles his vents softly.

"It was harder than I expected. Leaving, I mean." His optics find Drift's again. "Having a reminder of why I was doing it helped."

Drift had been surprised to see Ratchet -- even more surprised at his vehement insistence that Drift come back to the Lost Light. Even after things had gotten better between them, sincerity had never really been their language, and this, here, is somehow harder to grapple with than Ratchet berating him. A little uncomfortable, even -- but better. Definitely better.

"Leaving home is never easy." Drift stretches his arms over his head and breaks contact with Ratchet to stare up at the ceiling. "But it's not like you never intended to go back."

"I hadn't really had a home to leave in a long, long time," Ratchet says, his optics intent on Drift's face even as Drift looks away. "And leaving it for the sake of a friend was hard.

"But I figured you'd understand."

Still uncomfortable. Still massively uncomfortable. For all his big talk about being true to yourself, there are few people Drift can handle this level of sincerity from, and Ratchet hasn't historically been on that list. Still better, yeah, but Drift, a little more worn out than he's ready to admit, keeps stretching and staring up at the ceiling.

"I do." He smiles faintly, briefly. Not a façade this time, either. "I mean -- maybe I didn't right away, it was -- well, you know. But -- that's kind of why I left, too. Not just for a friend, but -- for everyone."

Ratchet frowns, folding his arms and shifting a little.

"What the hell do you mean, 'for everyone'?" His voice is rougher now, struggling to keep a tight lid on his frustration. "Rodimus threw you under the bus, and you let him--having to pick you up off the deck so you could get to your shuttle didn't really do a whole lot for me, personally, so if I count as part of 'everyone' you can rule that right out."

"What?" Drift's gaze jerks back to Ratchet's face, his brow furrowed. "Threw me under the bus? Ratchet, no -- that's not what happened at all."

So apparently 'everyone knows about Overlord' doesn't mean that Rodimus told anyone the full story. Maybe he shouldn't be surprised. Drift sighs, lowering his arms and sitting forward in his seat.

"Ratchet, the leaving -- the exile, the revocation of the Reintegration Act -- that was my idea. I told Rodimus that I was going to take the fall."

Ratchet stares at him for a moment, unable to force the words Drift is saying into any kind of intelligible order.

"I'm sorry, what? You--" He scoffs a laugh, his optics pale. "You're telling me that you threw away everything you've worked for since New Crystal City--your command, your friends, your life--and you did it, what, voluntarily? It was your idea? Go on, tell me another."

Unfortunately, there is no punchline here. Drift's expression doesn't change.

"Yes, Ratchet, it was my idea." He hesitates a moment, then vents out a heavy sigh, running a hand over his helm. "Look, I know you're going to laugh at me, but I want you to know that I'm being serious here. At Vector Sigma, when I had that near-death experience -- it wasn't just a spiritual awakening, Ratchet. I had a vision."

Edited 2017-11-17 05:01 (UTC)

"Yeah, I remember Vector Sigma, when I had to put you back together after you ran yourself through! I recall vividly, thank you!"

Ratchet stops, drawing a slow vent of cool air into his system.

"You," he says, his voice very deliberate, "let Rodimus blame you for an event that could have caused the brutal murder of the entire ship, strip you of your Autobrand, and exile you because you had... a vision?"

Okay, so Ratchet's not laughing. That doesn't really feel like a good thing right now.

"Yes," he says, with a little more emphasis this time, "and because you know I wouldn't throw any of those things away for a trivial reason, you see how important it was. I know what you're thinking, Ratchet, but it was important. It isn't all clear to me still, but this whole quest, the search for the Knights of Cybertron...it can't happen without Rodimus. He has to stay with the Lost Light. I couldn't afford to put any of that in jeopardy by being selfish."

"Selfish? Selfish? You think--you know what, maybe you should have informed Rodimus that it was so damn important, because after we were done on Luna-1 he had a vote! He had everybody vote to see if they wanted him to stay captain and said he'd step down if a majority voted against him."

Ratchet is venting hard before he stops, something cold detonating in his tanks, and it shows on his face. He recovers after a moment, trying not to think of the look on Rodimus' face when Ratchet told him he'd voted against.

"He won, as it happens, with no help from me. But don't you talk about being selfish. That's his job."

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