CHAPTER28

"What good did this do for you, Drift?"

These words were still haunting Drift.

"Troops?" Axe asked.

"Slave traders" Dai Atlas informed them. "We told them to leave because there was nothing for them here. We haven't needed to fight."

He didn't even listen to them. He didn't care about it. At the table, the scene was playing over and over in his mind. Drift trying to protect Jetstorm and Slipstream…without any success…

Wing stopping him from finishing his enemy…

Why had he stopped him to?

"That's not honourable."

Why had he talked about honour here?

He didn't understand his reaction. During the dinner time, Drift tried to ignore Wing. As soon as Drift, Jetstorm and Slipstream had sat down at table along with others, none of them had reacted to this though he could have felt a hint of animosity from Dai Atlas and Star Saber, in a lesser extent.

He didn't care.

He hadn't got his weapon anymore…and Jetstorm and Slipstream had been endangered.

He'd ran away from Shadow Raker to put them into safety…And yet here, in this place, there were other dangers. Other harms…and Drift wouldn't able to protect them from it.

A shadow remains a shadow…

Drift didn't say anything. He just drank his cube before leaving the table.

"Drift?"

Wing called him. Drift wished he could pretend he hadn't heard him. Jetstorm and Slipstream didn't follow him. They could eat alone. In a heavy step, he walked through the hall, heading for his flat…

He didn't want to talk.

"Drift!"

He was about to close the door, but Wing blocked it with one arm. Drift looked away. He didn't want to confront him…

Why?

He felt anger…shame?

Why?

"Listen…listen to me, Drift"

"I don't want to."

"You'll have to."

"What good did this do for you, Drift?"

What good did Drift do?

"Listen" The white bot started. "About…what I said earlier…I didn't mean to hurt you. Quite the contrary."

He paused. That's his turn to look down. As if he was apologizing to him…

"And maybe…I had been too hard on you. About this, I'm sorry…"

"Why did you bring me in?"

Drift didn't wish to display more emotion. Yet his voice went shaky.

"I didn't ask you to bring me in! I just thought…it would be a good idea. I had nowhere else to go. But…the others get us isolated…I just don't do anything beside…cleaning floors and making cubes!"

He felt humiliated…

Wing wished he could get him integrated but the others had responsibilities. Dai Atlas was a powerful bot. A bot who could defend an entire city against invaders…even Outrigger had huge responsibilities…

The most important thing…they knew to defend themselves.

"Drift…It's only your first days here…" Wing gently explained. "Of course, it's hard. You must show them your will to stay here. We can't have anything without any hard work. Afterward…and only afterward, they'll grow softer…I had been like you, at the beginning here. People have been harsh toward me as well."

The orange bot clenched his fists.

"You only want to convince me to practice martial arts! You are only interested by it! I don't want it and yet you force me to! You pretend to be kind and altruistic…but yet you are secretly selfish!"

Wing gave him a sad look.

"I'm sure you wouldn't have taken an interest in me if Gasket hadn't asked you to! You could choose anyone…and yet you chose me!"

Wing had his arms down. He made another step in the lounge. Drift moved back but Wing closed the door. That's time to talk it out.

"You wish to get some responsibilities…yet you refuse to learn about our ways, our culture."

"I never said something like this!" He yelled. "I would do anything to be part of your group…but learning martial arts? Out of question!"

"Martials arts are an important part of the Circle of Light."

His tone was soft. As usual. He didn't ask any permission. Wing went over to the sofa to sit down. He faced him.

"Why don't you like it? Why are you so disgusted with it?"

"I'm disgusted with everything!"

"Everything? Learning to use a katana, a sword…it disgusts you that much? That's a weapon like another. They are different from laser-guns, okay. But it isn't that monstrous either."

"I already went through it! Katanas, swords…I don't want it anymore!"

Wing didn't display any contempt. He just shook his head, understanding.

"I think you don't know anything about martial arts. Or at least, not as much as you think…"

"Oh yes! I know enough about it!"

"So, tell me. What did Shadow Raker teach you? I'm listening."

Drift frowned.

Why did he wish to know?

"That's quite simple!" The orange bot shouted. He didn't care if others would hear him. "They are used to kill people, to get others to do whatever we want!"

All his memories under Shadow Raker's tutelage went back with a bang.

"We can use them on anyone! On weakest…on people who can't defend themselves!"

"FORGIVE ME, MASTER! YOU ARE RIGHT! I'M A DISAPPOINTMENT! I DON'T DESERVE YOU!"

"We were sliced in pieces if we committed a mistake!"

"You're wrong, Drift"

Drift's sight went blurry again. Wing stared back at him.

A compassionate stare.

"Martial arts are nothing of this. That's not only about using a sword, a katana or a sabre. It's a philosophy. There are principles belonging to martial arts. You'll use them every day."

"Principles? Like attacking weak people?"

Wing shook his head.

"…No. Principle such as honour. That's why I stopped you from killing him. We use martials arts to protect, not to kill."

Protect…

"We learn them…in order not to use them. That's what you have to understand."

Finally, the white bot stood up.

"I think martials arts aren't the thing that scare you, Drift. That's what Shadow Raker taught you. You think it would be the same thing here. But you're wrong."

"Why would you be different from Shadow Raker?" Drift gritted, his lump in the throat.

Wing didn't reply. He was about to leave.

"What is the thing that saved you earlier, Drift? Your laser-gun? Or your arm and leg?"

"Leave me alone."

The white bot seemed…disappointed.

"I will never do any harm to you" Wing declared. "By the way, none of you will ever do any harm to you, Jetstorm or Slipstream."

"Sheesh. As if I will trust you…"

He didn't care if he hurt him.

Wing was either too friendly to be honest…or too stupid.

In any case, he didn't want anything from him.

The door was closed again. Drift was alone now.

"What are you doing?"

Jetstorm, Slipstream and Outrigger were in the Dojo. They'd taken a seat near the tatami, Beak flying around them. Wing joined them. Their presence here drew his curiosity.

"You should be sleeping right now" Wing said.

"We aren't tired" Outrigger replied, smiling.

Beak landed on his shoulderplate.

"I just told them Beak's backstory"

"Really?" Wing asked.

"Yes. Dai Atlas told me that he'd found him in a toy store. He was programmed to torture and destroy, at least until Star Saber get him reprogramed. Then, he'd become…Beak."

The camera-bot flied again, seemingly liking to be the focus of attention.

"A toy store…" Jetstorm repeated.

"Have you never seen one of them?" Outrigger questioned him.

"Yes" Slipstream answered. "Minicons are sold in toy stores…Shadow Raker bought us in one of them."

Wing frowned, feeling disgust as soon as Slipstream said these words.

Minicons sold out in toy stores?

How could Cybertron allow this?

Unfortunately, Cybertron went worse and worse every day…more than he imagined.

He turned back to Outrigger.

"Could you leave us alone, please?"

The brown bot nodded. Wing knew he would have wished to stay a bit longer…However, he had to talk with Jetstorm and Slipstream about something. It would be awkward if Outrigger listened. That's a private matter.

Outrigger grabbed Beak then left the Dojo. Wing took a seat near them. He offered them a soft smile.

"Do you like this place?"

That's a stupid question. Wing regretted his question immediately. They should feel the same as Drift. After all, who liked doing chores every day?

At his arrival here, Wing had also wanted to get kicked out because he'd felt like a slave here.

Jetstorm and Slipstream exchanged a look.

"That's not different from our previous place"

"How so?"

"Well…we were used to chores." Slipstream explained, a forced smile on his face.

He quickly added.

"But that's way better! We are well-treated here! Much better!"

Wing's gold optics went a bit darker at this thought.

"…You never talked about Shadow Raker, right?"

He pitied them…it mustn't have been easy every day…working for him…

How could Shadow Raker have mistreated them like this?

"He was our owner"

"It doesn't excuse his behaviour toward you" Wing pointed.

"We were his tools." Slipstream justified. "He was free to do whatever he wanted to do to us. Even things like…"

He didn't finish his sentence.

Almost instinctively, Jetstorm held his right arm. He looked away from Wing.

That's clear enough now.

"But every owner of Minicons are like Shadow Raker" Slipstream sighed.

"Are you aware that…everything Shadow Raker did to you…wasn't a normal thing?" Wing questioned them.

Apparently, they weren't.

They still viewed themselves as tools.

"He put both of you through so many awful things." Wing explained. "You had no choice."

"He was our Master"

"Even if he was indeed your Master…torture, humiliation, murder…Maybe you ignore this but I don't think all Minicon Deployers act like Shadow Raker. I don't think some of them treat their Minicons in such a way."

It left Slipstream and Jetstorm speechless.

Wing let out a sigh.

"I wanted to tell you that…whatever he did to you, whatever punishment he inflicted on you…it wasn't your fault. Far from it"

"But…we failed him" Jetstorm answered.

"If you don't free yourselves from such an unfounded guilt…you'll be back in his claws…"

He stood up.

They hadn't been indifferent to his words.

"Why did you follow Drift?" He asked them, out of curiosity. "While Shadow Raker was your Master…"

They took a time to reply.

"We don't know."

"We feel like…we are important…with him"

That's what he thought.

"You should go to berth, now"

Their wounds would take a time to be healed up.

Drift had saved them. That's the first step.

Now…they had to move on…they must live like usual Cybertronians…people who were not tools, toys or slaves.

He didn't know one thing.

Drift had listened all along.

The day after, Drift directly joined Wing into the Dojo, where he prepared himself for training.

He didn't understand what'd pushed him to do.

Or rather, he knew…but he didn't want to admit.

"Drift?"

The orange bot faced him.

Everything Shadow Raker had said were lies…

About martial arts, about surviving…

Yet…

"I thought a lot, the last night"

A shadow remains a shadow…

No. He refused it.

With Shadow Raker, there was no principle, no code…

Nothing…

He didn't bow. He thought it wasn't necessary.

"…I accept to learn martial arts…or rather, to re-learn them…"

Surprise appeared in Wing's optics.

"…Only if you are my teacher."