Transformers ( Bayverse ) - I Bleed Into Darkness

45 - Revelations

        “Carrie!” Charlie shouted as she burst into the redhead’s room. “I figured out your riddle!” Without waiting for a response, Charlie crossed the room in a few quick strides. “They’re all her, aren’t they? You're her, too! You’re all a piece of the puzzle. And until Fay accepts it or some corny crap, she’s stuck here! That’s it, isn’t it? Why didn’t you just tell me?”

        Carrie kept a level gaze, bruises and cuts still healing along her body. “I was testing how well you knew her.”

        It had taken Charlie a while to realize it, yes. She’d admit that much. But once it had started to click, once she’d noticed all the small habits, the behaviors that Fay did subconsciously, being done by these ‘strangers’ -- Charlie knew it wasn’t just a coincidence. They were her. Or a part of her, at least. Her heart was pounding in her chest, and Charlie understood entirely that this wasn’t as simple as she hoped.

        “It’s just not that easy to explain,” Carrie said easily. “And whether Fay fully realizes what, or who we are, doesn’t matter. It doesn’t affect whether or not she will wake. What matters is that she finds herself. The loss of herself is what keeps her here.”

        “What the hell does that even mean?” Charlie shouted. “We can’t just wait here! The Decepticons are looking for her! They’re closing in and we’re running out of time!”

        “She’s the only one they’re looking for?” Carrie asked, looking at Charlotte evenly. The blonde met Carrie’s gaze, frustrated that Carrie knew. Carrie knew and no one else did. Did that mean Fay, a part of her, at least, knew as well? Carrie shrugged off Charlie’s glare. “Regardless, we are not the only ones who have resided here. If you recall, our numbers were thicker at the start of this journey and have gradually thinned, always several in a day. That is because a part of the siblings still live with Fay. In her mind, and in her spark. They were here as Techno Organic forms for a while. Their leaving was reminiscent of their deaths. A few of them still linger. The ones who lived longest remain yet.”

        “How the hell does this help me?” Charlie demanded, even though it startled her to hear about the siblings. “What the hell am I supposed to do? How can I help Fay ‘find herself’ or whatever?”

        “You have to figure it out,” Carrie replied.

        “Well what the hell are you?” Charlie snapped. “What are then if you’re part of Fay?”

        “I’m her humanity.”

        ~~~

        “Do you guys even hear what I’m saying right now?” Charlie snapped again, the encounter with Carrie leaving her haunted. Carrie was Fay’s humanity. That was why Fay couldn’t lose her. If Fay lost Carrie, then Fay would lose quite possibly the only thing that tethered her mind and spark to the Autobots and to humans in general. Without her humanity, Fay would be lost to them.

        Without Carrie, Fay would be lost to those like Joshua.

        Joshua.

        Joshua, as Charlie had found out, was Fay’s animosity. He was her base instinct to destroy, to maim, to kill, and to hate. That was why Joshua had targeted Carrie, and why he took such delight in Fay’s actions whenever he managed to get under her skin. It was why they had to keep her away from him. He knew precisely how to get to her. How to bring out her darkest side, the one that wanted to destroy.

        “We hear it,” Jazz replied quickly. “We just think it’s kinda . . . Freaky, science fiction-grade stuff.”

        “Have you even looked in a mirror?” Charlie shouted. “Everything about this situation is ‘freaky, science-fiction grade stuff’! And it’s all real and I don’t know what to do because Fay needs us and there’s no known way to actually help her! What am I supposed to do?”