re_alignment | [Video] [Originating from: Junk Pile] [Locked to: Drift]

[He's quiet a moment, because these things take time to process.]

...I know.

[Acceptance.]

[No other fatalities is a good, if humbling, thing to hear. Friends and compatriots, safe. It makes it even more worth it.] Dai Atlas...he joined the battle? And with the rest of the city? But wait, you're not saying...he brought the city to surface?

[He's touched by this, deeply, and it shows in Wing's face, but then there's a edge of dark irony to his features.]

You did? [A flash of a smile, dispelling some of that darkness.] That's good. I--thank you. At least it wasn't too late for them.

I notice you now carry Too Pure For This World... [You know it's a question, unfinished.]

[He wants to argue that Wing doesn't know, that he can't imagine someone like Wing ever really being able to comprehend the magnitude of his mistake, and his remorse. Wing would never make such a huge mistake in the first place.]

Yes. He joined; he brought masses to defend you.

[It's what Drift had wanted to happen in the first place. No one would have died that way. No one.]

No, it wasn't too late. For them or others.

[He looks confused for a moment before it clicks.] Oh. I... yes. Dai Atlas gave it to me.

[But he sees the magnitude of your pain now. And Wing knows of no other offering to make than comfort.]

The city raised? And it took my loss to do it. [He leans forward in his seat, sharp shadows falling over him, white audials sweeping the air as he shakes his head.] What I would have given--to live to see that.

[Because there was always a part of Wing that wanted that too. To live under the open sky. Maybe even with you.]

[He ex-vents and straightens swiftly, as if trying to shed a weight from his back.] What would you have done Drift? If we'd both survived the battle?

They valued you highly, Wing.

[And Drift had not valued you enough.]

There should have been another way. [So many things that refers to: to defeat Braid, to undo Drift's betrayal, to keep the City safe. All too late.]

I-I don't know. [It was not something he'd tormented himself with in the long years after, the knowledge of the present he had lost was bad enough--imagining lost futures would have broken him.] You hadn't seemed to plan on surviving, either.

They honor me. [And he knew it was true. The way Axe and the others had stepped up to join him. Each person added to his chances for survival. Except Dai Atlas, who valued his sanctuary more. All these circumstances... the more Wing thought about it the more he began to wonder if events played out exactly as they were always meant to...]

Should have been. [He sighs.] It doesn't matter now though. We both showed poor judgement. We both did our best to rectify it. We can't change how things played out. We can only go forward.

No more than you deserve.

[And far batter than Drift expects to get himself when he dies. But if events played out as they should, Drift should have been the one dead, and no one mourning. ]

No, the fault was mine. [A wry smile. He doesn't think you've done anything wrong in your life. Of course you don't understand.] And you can't go forward and forget the past ever happened. The past is what...what we're hoping will save us.

[Not 'no one' mourning, Drift.]

[Wing knows when there's no convincing you to share the burden. But if he's never done wrong then he can be satisfied with the good in his choice to rescue you.]

[He nods.] We must remember the past but not dwell on it to the exclusion of our future. [And cocks his head, curiously.] 'Hoping the past will save us?' [Is this a new metaphor?]

[Up until a week go, yes, no one mourning. Oh, Rodimus would make a speech, and then Ultra Magnus would sigh an Ultra Magnus-sized sigh of relief that Drift wasn't going to do something illegal on a massive scale and Ratchet would call him an idiot and that would be that.]

You shouldn't mourn me, out of everyone.

[There's no way you could share the burden of having been Deadlock. That history dogs him to this day.]

Not a metaphor. _{I hope not}. We're--some of us--looking for the Knights of Cybertron. Cyberutopia. What Dai Atlas spoke of, all the time.

Because we can do war, but from what I've seen, our kind...we can't do peace.

[An improvement then yes?]

I think I'm better qualified than most actually. [He has a slightly sly smile that keeps this lighthearted, but then he sobers again.]

Drift... I don't think you realize... your arrival changed everything, in more ways than you know.

[Oh Primus. Is he going into story mode? He is.]

I believed in the knight's cause, in our purpose, but they way it was executed at New Crystal City, [He shakes his head] challenged me on a personal level.

It was beautiful utopia, but all within a stasis bubble. Necessary to benefit the whole, the greater purpose. But I...I was suffocating. No space, no room to fly, no potential for growth. The same air, the same light, the same people, the same life day after day.

I accepted and endured because it's what needed to be done.

You changed all that Drift. All that time I spent with you, made me feel alive again. It was like waking up. The outside world had invaded and I...I didn't mind. I loved it.

The battle and how it ended doesn't change that.

[He smiles and ex-vents softly. It feels like a confession, and in most ways it is. But like himself, it'd been trapped for too long.]

Cybertopia? [This gets a quirk of an optic ridge.] ...Peace? What do you mean?

[He doesn't want to answer that. He doesn't really want to think about dying now, either of them. Not right now. Not when he's still half convinced this is some fever dream or hallucination that he desperately wants to make real.]

[But you're lucky you have such a nice voice, Wing, or Drift would possibly have started to zone out.]

It was better than anything I'd ever had.

[His voice was small. It's a revelation to him to discover, after all this time, that Wing felt the City to be so flawed. It had been everything he'd ever wanted. And he'd only resisted it because he hadn't fought for it, hadn't earned it, didn't think it was real or possible unless one had paid for it in suffering.]

You....had a funny way of showing it [He's trying to keep the tone light, to turn it into a joke, because, well...it's a lot to take in. It changes everything he's thought, everything he's blamed himself for.]

Cyberutopia. The home of the Knights of Cybertron. They can help us. They have to.

[No more notions of dying. This, Wing can can agree on with his whole spark.]

I know. You told me, and--[His tone is sheepish, almost pained]--It's not that I was ungrateful, far from it. It was as near perfect as I could ever imagine. But it was also hard for me in some ways. Being underground, cut off from--everything. That was the exchange though, perfection in isolation. And it was worth it, for all of them, to see them happy, safe.

There were days though, when I just...needed to breathe, to see the sky, remember there was a world, a universe outside. [His flight surfaces rustle involuntarily as he shifts, restless.] It's one of the reasons I ventured out as often as I did. It's why Dai Altas raising the city...afterwards, opening it to the outside, is so--ironic. [That dark edge from before, you recognize it.]

[He shakes his head, regaining his composure.] But my wants and needs alone weren't a reason to challenge it or to place doubts in others. It was mine to adapt to and endure. I did it willingly, for them.

[And he would have for you too, if things had been different.]

[Yeah, maybe a little levity here is a good thing? His tone is tentative, a bit like his smile.] Would you have preferred tea and opera?

"Help you? ...are you trying to end the war with the Knight's help? Or are you saying...it's already ended?"

There are worse things to trade than not seeing the sky.

[They'd never seen the sky down in the gutters. 'Freedom' to them meant some fantasy where you had a safe place to recharge and didn't have to steal to survive. Anything else was incomprehensible luxury.]

_{But you weren't? Happy?} [All this talk of 'them' and what they needed. The pronoun was upsetting. He'd thought Wing was happy; he'd envied that happiness.]

[He shutters his optic lids.] No. Not for me. The whole point isn't to 'endure', Wing. That's not what it's about. [And not for Drift. He's far better at enduring than you give him credit for.]

The war's over. [Don't ask him who won, though. That's still...a mess.] The war's over, but the factions, the grudges, the enmity still remain. It's why we left.

[A small nod.]

That's not-- I'm-- [not handling this in the best way obviously. It'd been ages since he'd spoken of this to anyone. He'd rather forgotten how to do it. Wing passes a hand over his face before continuing.] Something happened back during the start of the war. I spent a long time trapped, injured, under rubble. Sometimes...there are echoes. [He cycles a vent.] I love our city, I do! What we accomplished there is a joy and a wonder beyond imagining. It's not that I wasn't happy.

There are just times I harbored a selfish desire to...have it above ground. [His voice is small, like it's the first time he's said these words aloud.]

I'm sorry if I'm making this sound melodramatic. None of that is my point though, it wasn't supposed to be about me. You were fresh and new and brought news with you. I hadn't realized I'd missed those things until you came and...stirred things up. It was exciting. I just wanted to show you how you touched and changed my life in a positive way. [Since you seem so set on all the negative ways you'd done so.]

[Are there winners in a war like that?] I'm glad to hear it's done with, the fighting at least. You're trying to rebuild then? That's why you're going in search of Cybertopia?

[Wing hadn't shared much of his own story in Crystal City. Because it hadn't been about him, but rather about Drift, trying to get Drift to see himself for what he was and what he'd done...and what he could be.]

It's hard to feel happy when the past seems to keep reaching for you, yes. [He knows this all too well.] But you succeeded better than most, I imagine.

[No, but he knows you're thinking that question, anyway.] We were trying to rebuild. But there are some who can't let go of the factions. This [he taps his Autobrand] still means something else to them than a code of behavior. They see it as a way to hold on to the grudges and the hatred of the past.

It sounds silly to want to move to the past to move forward but they? They're not moving anywhere at all. After all that time.

[He also doesn't like unnecessarily burdening others.]

[He nods.] It's certainly an...interruption. I did my best, found ways to cope. [Which you know plenty about.]

Lines drawn so deeply over the millennia are hard to rub out. [He focuses on the Autobrand on your chassis, still decorated by the red smear of your own rust.] It's a reminder of those grudges. It's lost its purity of meaning.

[Wing shakes his head. It's an oblique thought, but one he understands.] You need a place to start. An example to remind all Cybertronians that there are other ways to lie. That it's been done before, and can be again.

[It might have helped, Wing. It might have made you seem slightly less...perfect and unapproachable.]

'Interruption'. [There's a slight scoff in his tone. He's remembering the number of times his past was thrown in his face by his 'fellow' Autobots, when he was told he didn't belong, had no right to be with them, fight alongside them. And if that is what they said to his face...?] Your ways were better than mine.

[Goes without saying, really.]

I'm not sure it had purity of meaning. Zeta Prime certainly didn't feel that way. But it should mean something: nobility, honor, what we can be capable of.

The problem is, it's not. And the Knights...they can help us. [You might remember that ardent light in his optics.]

[You just like adding to the 'If Only' pile, don't you? Hopefully Wing is a little less of both now.]

Not really an adequate term is it? [A knowing shrug.] But it's the one I choose. Diminish the effect by diminishing the words. It's a small thing, but sometimes all the small things add up. I'd rather place emphasis on the other, better, parts of life. I need to have power over the past, not let it have power over me, and any way I can take back that power, I will.

[He smiles.] I don't mind sharing them.

It should. But in the grand scheme of things should one need a brand or a faction to exemplify those traits?

A grand hope. And a worthy one. [He smiles. It's a little odd, being on the other side of this conversation with you, but it touches him deeply.] I wish I could help you. [Except there's this issue of being stuck here. And what happens if they try to go back.]

[He's had a long time to build that pile, Wing. It was maybe a few days ago for you, but he's had night after night, playing 'what if'.]

[It makes sense, but...] Some things refuse to be controlled by words, though.

[Drift sighs, swiping at the stain on his Autobrand.] We shouldn't. But we do. We need something to unite us. Even our quest--it was for our goal. But that was hope and joining behind hope was better than this.

I wish you could come back. Just you...you'd be enough to change things.

[True, but it's Wing's pile you're adding to this time. Share and share alike is it?]

It's our outlook that's important, the words just help remind us of what that outlook can and should be. But it's true, it's a small solution for a small part of the problem. Just repeated daily. [That's no small thing.]

Symbols are powerful. We need a new one with new meaning and new hope. One that doesn't carry the tarnish of war. Your quest is a good one, we should try to see you back to it.

I... [Wing's not sure how to respond. Changing a single person's path yes, but inspiring a whole race? He's both honored and humbled by your words.] I would come, and do what I could, in any way possible.

[Guilt tripping Drift about guilt trips. Nicely done. ]

[Right, Drift. Outlook. Optimism. You'd had this all settled, until....Wing. It's hard to leave the past behind when suddenly your greatest regret is standing in front of you. ]

I know.

[You make tragedy sound like a rash, Wing.]

[And then you hit him with things like that. Help him go back. He wants to go back but...you're not there. He shutters his optics for a long moment; he gets the unspoken message.]

[And then shrugs, forcing a smile.]

What matters is now, though. If the past isn't worth mourning, neither's any of that. Right?

[Hey, what was that about guilt trips? Your greatest regret could always go hang out with someone else, there are other cute Decepticons around here he could try converting you know.]

[Hopefully that polar effect Wing has on your optimism isn't permanent. That could get awfully depressing.]

[And Wing does have that aggravating habit of putting others before himself.]

[He smiles at your words, because yes this is the moment and it's best to live in it.]

Yes. Here and now. And for all we know, maybe there are answers lurking here. Maybe we can learn from these Primes.

[You don't think he isn't afraid of that? He figures it's merely a matter of time, honestly.]

[So much for staying in the moment.]

We can. And maybe we can help. Here. [Not 'back home' because Wing doesn't really have one of those. ]

[No he didn't. Because no one could replace you.]

[There will be others. He'll see to it.]

I think the people here might need us too. [And maybe this could be home, for the time being. Wing would like that, if he could be here and have both the sky, and you.]

I hope they don't need me, what I can do.

[All Drift can do is kill. That's no way to build a society.]

But...[He's trying not to give into the temptation: Wing, here, alive, a new place, hope. ] There has to be something I can do. [Other than leak on things.]

You can still defend people Drift. Why do you think the Knights train in combat yet still promote peaceful means?

[But have you ever had a chance to do anything else? Here's your chance.]

You still have contributions you can make aside from that. This place, even though the Primes are here there's little power structure beyond that. There will be power plays and positioning beneath them, and likely old rivalries and animosities to go with it. I'd rather not see our history repeated here. You have a unique viewpoint in that you've served on, and believed in, both sides.

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video] (adopting bits of your headcanon here obviously. ;3)

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video] (Geez I swear I posted this last night. D: /sanity check /fails)