Lockdown
While my crazy daughter was off kissing her new found boyfriend, I was pondering what to do now that I was there in a place I thought I knew, but wasn't sure. I knew I had to ask one mech: Scourge. It was dawn when I caught him catching the first rays of the sun.
"Scourge, why is it I know you?" I asked.
"Well, it's not exactly me…but you do know this place" he didn't answer exactly.
"Yeah, but how and why?".
"You were sparked and would've been raised here".
"What? Not following".
"Then I will show you. Bear but a single touch and I will lead you through what has been".
I touched his side and I felt what could only be described as a time shift. Next thing I knew, we were at the base of the Jungle Temple, where a beautiful garden was growing. It was being tended currently by a beautiful femme who resembled a red bird of sorts. Her face plate was white with beautiful black markings, like mine. Her optics were a shining green. Her smile was so kind. I knew her, but how? She seemed to be holding something. She gasped happily.
"Orion!" she called, "Come quick!".
Her voice, I knew it somehow. But again, how?
Orion…the very wolverine mech we knew, rushed to her side.
"What is it, mother?" Orion asked.
"Look, it's a mantis. They've come back. They can protect the plants from locusts now".
"It's just a mantis, mother".
"Oh Orion, if only you understood. The mantis makes it his priority to protect his home from any invaders, including the ones that harm him…even others of his kind".
"Why?".
"They have to defend what is theirs and what's important to them".
"Like families?".
"Somewhat…baby mantis grow on their own. Their mothers don't care for them. Rather, Gaia looks out for them".
This scene…it was so familiar.
"Does Artemis help them?".
"Only when it comes to getting a meal, my son".
"I wanna be like a mantis. I wanna protect what matters. Can I, mother?" Orion asked, his red optics full of hope.
His mother put the mantis on the ground to embrace her son.
"Of course you can, love. You can do whatever you want, be whatever you want".
"I'll protect you, mother".
"My little hunter…I love you so much".
The femme held her son to her, and just that moment, I found myself with tears in my optics. Why, I didn't know.
"Do you understand, Lockdown?" Scourge asked me.
"I think, but I need to be shown more".
"Very well. I think I know what will make you understand".
The time changed again. This time it was a foggy morning not too far away from the temple. There was a little burned down cottage where the femme and her son were practicing their magic. Once again, I recognized the place.
"So, what are these symbols?" Orion asked.
"They are runes, Orion".
"No I mean these ones, the ones on the fire place here. Like this one" Orion pointed out a silver colored bow and arrow on the old fire place of the cottage.
"That is Artemis's prized weapon, Orion. She received those from Zeus himself, so that she could hunt without causing pain to the animals she hunted".
"So she was a nice hunter?" Orion asked.
"Perhaps, it depended highly on what she hunted. Stags were always her favorite. I told you the story of Actaeon right?".
"Yeah, where she turned that one guy into a stag so he was killed by his own dogs".
"Very good, Orion. I have a gift for you. Something that I hope you'll treasure forever" the femme dug through the ash in the fireplace and pulled out….
I gasped. No, it couldn't be! It was the reliquary…which meant…. I was crying again. I was one of them, that femme, the red femme…she was….my mother. My beautiful mother, the one who died protecting me from those rogues. And I promised to protect her. I was once Orion, a wolverine beast morph.
"I don't need to see anymore. I get it" I managed, "I'm so sorry, mother".
A/N: How was that for drama?! Bet you'll never saw that coming!