The Diego Diaries: Now (dd5 51)

-0-In the corridor outside

Ratchet walked down the hallway toward the group waiting outside of the conference room. He paused next to Blackstone. "What's happening?"

"There may be a breakthrough, or not with Sunee. Edict is distraught. He's feeling alone and desperate. I thought it might be good for you to check him out medically. If there's something that can assist him through this then perhaps you might know what it is," Blackstone replied as the others nodded.

"Alright," Ratchet said, then he opened the door and entered walking to the table to sit. Sunee was staring out the window nearby as Edict sat with his helm in his arms. On each side of him was Rung and Jarro speaking softly as they gave him comfort. "How may I help?" Ratchet asked gently.

"I hope you canatchet. Perhaps something that can take a bit of his anxiety down," Jarro said.

Ratchet reached out to squeeze Edict's arm. "Edict? Can you hear me?"

Edict didn't respond for a moment, then sat up with a look of complete weariness on his face. Ratchet took his servo. "Edict, I'm going to download something that will help you with your sadness," he said. Edict didn't reply.

Ratchet went through his protocols, chose a mild one, then sent it to Edict wifi-style. For a moment Edict sat in devastation, then he shifted. Opening up, he looked at Ratchet. "Thank you," he said with a voice devoid of emotion. Ratchet glanced at Sunee who was by the window staring out at the world he couldn't join. He arose, then walked over to stand beside him. "Can I help you, Sunee? You look very sad."

Sunee glanced at Ratchet, then stared out again. "I'm not sad. You can't reach me. I'm an island."

Ratchet nodded. "That sounds very lonely to me."

"It isn't. I don't need anyone. Take care of my ada though. He deserves the best. He's the best you know?" Sunee looked at Ratchet a moment. "He's way better than anyone I know. No one can touch him."

"I can imagine that's true. Everyone loves their ada. I love mine," Ratchet said. "You have a great love for him."

"I do. He's … he took care of me all along, all the hard times and he never flinched. He's strong and good. My Ada is the best there is." He was quiet for a moment. "He doesn't know how to live like this. He said so. I can't help him because I'm here. My brothers and sister … they need to help." Sunee glanced at Ratchet. "Tell them."

"I will," Ratchet said. "I know all three of them."

"They're okay. They don't love Ada like I do. I can tell you that as a fact. No one does but me. Not even my atar," Sunee said as his chin quivered slightly. He caught himself and looked away. "I don't want him to feel so bad."

"I gave him something that will help him. What will help him best is you getting yourself well enough to leave here and take care of him. He took care of you through all the bad times. Now its your turn. You have to help yourself or your ada will be alone," Ratchet said.

They stared at the traffic a moment, then Sunee looked at Ratchet. "You're the enemy. I was taught that all of you, you low castes are the enemy. My Atar hates mechs like you. He says you smell funny."

"Do I?" Ratchet asked.

Sunee stared at him for what seemed to be forever, then shook his helm. "No. I don't think so. I can't smell anything."

"Sometimes its mental," Ratchet said. "You believe something and you live it but when you challenge it you find out it was wrong. I could hate you too. I could hate all the things we had to suffer from high castes but that would be wrong."

Sunee glanced at him, then looked out again. "Why?"

Edict who was sitting at the table with the others watched and listened, his confusion and agony clear on his face as tears slid silently down. Jarro and Rung watched too, listening to Ratchet as he did what they did when they weren't around. Ratchet was a therapist of last resort when no one else was there, helping mechs in war all over the universe deal with terrible things. He was good at it and they had hopes as they listened.

"Because we all are one. Primus says so. He loved all of us enough to give up His only life to save us. We lived on His body for eons. He wouldn't have done that for just a few. He is all encompassing good. He did it for all of us. The AllSpark and the Well do deeds of good for all of us. If we were truly unworthy then no sparks would come to us lower life forms from the Well but they do. We fought a terrible war, a long terrible war for everyone even though Cybertron never gave us a place that wasn't awful in the life that was there. We died everywhere and we lay where we fell most of us for everyone. That includes you. We did it because we are all Cybertronians and all of us count."

Sunee stared at him, then out the window again. "I don't understand. Why would anyone die for me? You hate us. You want our stuff."

"I fought and nearly died more than once for the idea of our unity. The entire period of the Clampdown made us break apart. We were never strong the way we were during the caste system and all of that. It made us weak and vulnerable, ripe for a tyrant like Megatron. We broke apart like shattered glass because of our disunity. This place is the best place Cybertronians ever lived because here we are one. All are one, Sunee. What you know is a lie that was taught to you."

"MY ADA IS GOOD! You're calling my ada a liar," Sunee said looking at Ratchet with fury.

"No. Your ada was taught the lie and his ada before him back to the beginning when someone decided that there had to be someone to do the work and someone to reap the benefit. Its a great lie that nearly destroyed us. Your ada is as much a victim of it as me or anyone else," Ratchet said.

Sunee stared at Ratchet with a flash of the cold calculation, then it faded replaced by anxiety and doubt. "I don't care."

"You do. For the first time you do and it scares you. You don't know how to feel or act. You see me as a real person with feelings, family and dreams. Everyone in this room cares about you and wants your best. Everyone of us do including the low and mid castes working with you who have no reason to want it if what you said was at all true," Ratchet said.

"THEN WHY DO IT!? WHY DO YOU FRAGGING CARE!?" he shouted as he turned toward Ratchet with fists raised.

Ratchet stared at him calmly. "Because all are one. All of us are one. One and all for each other. If you're sick or lost or sad or ill, so am I. I will find you and help you if it takes forever. All of us are one and the loss of even one diminishes all of us."

Sunee stared at Ratchet, then his ada who looked haggard with agony. He walked over to sit next to him as Rung rose from the chair to walk to where Ratchet stood. "Ada, I don't know what to do."

"All you have to do, my son, is get better and come home. I need to have you with me. I miss you so. I'm so sorry," Edict said haltingly.

"About what? You're the best. There's nothing you have to feel sorry about," Sunee said as he sat feeling suddenly vulnerable.

"There is. We didn't teach you to be … to be different. There's something here that … its different. I don't know how to say it. We failed you," Edict said as he took Sunee's servo.

"NO! YOU DIDN'T! YOU'RE THE BEST! YOU CAN'T … I DON'T WANT TO HEAR THIS!" Sunee said with an agonized expression. "You and Atar are my heroes. You are … you don't … don't say this to me. No more."

"I have to, son. We failed you. We didn't teach you how to … to live in a mixed world. I'm so sorry. You've been in this place for so long because of me and your atar. We didn't know better."

"ADA! NO!" Sunee wailed, then he held his face with his servos. "No. I love you. You're my ada and I love you."

"You're my son and I love you, Sunee. But I failed you and you're here in this wretchedness. I'm sorry, son. I want you to be better and come home. I miss you so," Edict said as he began to cry again.

Sunee wrapped Edict in his arms and held him, the two crying together in the silent room. Ratchet looked at Rung who nodded. "I'm on call for this family," Ratchet said, then walked into the corridor. He paused by the others. "I don't know. Maybe you can go inside now."

Blackstone nodded, then walked in with the others and the door closed behind them. Ratchet stared at it, then walked out determinedly.

-0-At a cafe in Iacon

Ratchet walked in and spotted who he needed. Walking to the booth where Bron-E sat with Neo, Laret and two other unknown teachers from Sparkling Day, he pulled a chair to sit. "Mind if I joined you?"

"Not at all, Ratchet," Neo said. "What's up? You look tense."

"I was hoping to speak to Bron-E and the two of you. I don't know you two youngsters but if I could have a moment please," Ratchet said to the two mechs who were sitting in the group. They arose and walked to the door nearby to wait. Ratchet looked at Bron-E. "I just left the Processor Hospital after meeting with Sunee and your Ada. They're both a mess. I would like to know how I can help you mend your family because your ada is at his wits end. I gave him something for his anxiety."

"Is he alright?" Bron-E asked with concern as she tensed up at the news.

"That's your job to find out, right? You're his daughter," Ratchet said. "Your family is in crisis, that we all know and we're here to help you but your obligation to your family is yours, not ours."

Bron looked at the plate before her in anguish. "My family has drifted apart. My brothers and I … my ada. You know my atar is in prison for three or four years."

"I do," Ratchet said. "I also know when people go into prison they take their families with them. Your brother broke down tonight. Your Ada's pain finally reached him in a place it never has before. Your family cannot become whole if you run away from it. You have to help your ada because he's distraught. He's broken over this."

"He's alright isn't he?" Bron asked as she glanced up sharply. "He's safe and okay?"

"For now. But he's broken inside and feels he let all of you down," Ratchet said.

Bron stared at him in pain. "I don't know what to think anymore. I like it here. I know my brothers do too. I hate the way my genitors think. I can't think like that anymore. Do you see that mech? The one with the red paint scheme?" she asked glancing over her shoulder to a very good looking young mech. "That's my mech and I love him. He loves me. He's low caste. I can't bring him home to meet anyone because of his caste. I can't tell my ada how happy I feel now because he loves me even though I was high caste. How can I talk to my ada about things when we don't have the same ideas anymore?"

"You do that with Rung and Jarro helping you." Ratchet leaned closer. "If you don't mend this family how can you have one with him? Your ada is in the middle of an identity crisis and you can help him. You found your way. Help him do the same. Sunee had a breakthrough tonight and more will come because Rung won't give up. Don't you." Ratchet stood up. "Get your brothers, take your mech and go to the Processor Hospital. It's time you took back your family and helped them. No more running. You can never run fast enough. Do it for your ada. If not for that then do it for yourself." Ratchet nodded to Neo and Laret who sat listening pensively, then turned to leave.

When he was gone, the three would rise, walk to Bron-E's young mech, then go to the Processor Hospital. It would be the first step in a long complex journey for all of them.

-0-TBC 2-18-16 edited 2-29-16

My laptop is dying but I'm using it until the replacement comes. If a lone letter or word shows up where it shouldn't be its because my cursor is having a nervous breakdown. I hate Dells. :D