Transformers ( Bayverse ) - I Bleed Into Darkness

39 - Backtrack

        “What are you doing?” Fay whispered as Charlie and Optimus slipped into her isolated room, kneeling at her bedside. “Get the hell out of here,” she hissed. “If they find you, you’ll never be let back in here! I can’t lose you!”

        “Fay!” Charlie shot back in a hushed voice. Begrudgingly, Optimus had agreed to let her do the talking to her friend. Charlie’s argument had been that she knew how to get Fay to listen to her no matter what was going on, and Optimus, more often than not, wound up just pissing her off or scaring her or startling her. Charlie was Fay’s rock, and Optimus was the fuel to her flame. Well, more appropriately, if she was going to use elemental references, he was the wind. Depending on the day, on his actions, he either encouraged the flames to grow higher and higher or he helped them dwindle down.

        But they couldn’t take that chance today. Of all things, they needed to be absolutely certain that they could get Fay out of this wretched room. They had to be certain they could break her out of her own mental prison. It was so difficult to try and explain that everything that was happening was her own doing. Of course Fay would punish herself. Of course her subconscious would piece these small things together about the injections. What Charlie and Optimus didn’t know was what exactly had been in that syringe, or how it had affected her so drastically.

        As Charlie fought to undo the bindings of the straightjacket, she kept her voice low. “Listen to me and listen good, Fay-.”

        “Well,” Fay replied evenly, even though the sound of Charlie’s voice was a step away from a version of heaven.

        “Excuse me?” Charlie shot back.

        “You mean well,” Fay told her. “You never were that good at English.”

        “Oh, shush!” Charlie snapped, the tension pushing on her shoulders. Fay’s mind was a dangerous place. She knew that much. Trying to weave through it long enough to get the girl away from this situation was a gamble. Because Fay was violent on the inside, thanks to her origins. If things went awry . . . Well, they could be facing the barrels of guns, the tips of spears . . . Charlie wasn’t sure what to expect. Only that they had to get Fay to what she perceived as safety. “Just listen, okay? We’re getting you out of here. Now. Come with us and stay calm.”

        A delighted laugh slipped from Fay’s throat and her eyes crinkled as her grin spread up against her cheeks. “You think I could panic with all the drugs I’m on? You’re funny, Char!”

        Charlie, however, frowned. If Fay couldn’t think clearly, this could all be in vain. Charlie had her hunch, and Optimus, as well as several other Autobots, shared it. Fay could fix this. She could go back. They could stop the incident that had sent her here.

        But if it was going to work this late, it had to be done immediately.

        Charlie’s fingers finished fumbling with the straightjacket and she eased it off Fay with a bit of rushed care. “We have to go, now, Fay. Come on.” The blonde girl grabbed at the brunette’s hands, pulling to help heave her off the simple bed.

        But Fay didn’t budge. She just stared at Charlie, an immense sorrow and despair filling her gaze. “I don’t deserve to be out there, Charlie. I’m a monster.” As Fay’s mind forced itself to sober up, flashes of that night crossed her vision. Fay had beaten that unnamed, irritating young man to a bloody pulp, but he never weakened. He laughed at her, actually. With each blow, his smile grew, his laugh became louder. With every blow, she became more and more frustrated.

        More so, Carrie seemed weaker, the tears coming quietly down her cheeks, but they were all too obvious to Fay for her to even try to ignore them. ‘Sadist,’ she told herself. ‘He was a sadist. A masochist. That’s why he enjoyed the pain. That’s why it never bothered him when I started breaking his bones and spilling his blood. That’s why he relished in the fact that I couldn’t kill him. It’s not me who failed. It’s just what he is. He adores the darkness. You just wallow in it. You’re different. You’re not like him.’