TFP - Every Bit Of Misery

7. Avoidance

Ebony could hear the cheering from her cell. It was considerably louder than she expected, even for today's match. Glancing down the hallway, she made out the bit of light that told her the victor was returning to his cell.

It hardly made a difference to her. Everyone here was just another competitor. If they made it through their other matches, it just meant they'd face her.

Either way, it would not end well for them. The ending would be the same. Ebony would win and either take her freedom, or expose the leaders of their planet for the manipulative bastards they truly were.

The peds came closer until the cell across from hers was opened, and the mech she'd come to openly tolerate was put back inside, his limited freedom gone again.

"I've gotta say," she said without true interest. "I didn't expect you to be the one returning after today's match." It was a lie. An open taunt. The warrior across from her was one of the most imposing forces she'd ever encountered.

"They cheered for me," he answered slowly, as if in awe.

"They cheer for death no matter who delivers it," Ebony answered, leaning against her cell wall, knowing her own match was coming up later today or tomorrow.

"No," he corrected, shaking his helm. "They cheered when I shouted for equality. They cheered when I spoke about changing the system."

~~~

Ebony trudged through the rainforest again. Scouting. Recon. Whatever you wanted to call it, it was far from the missions she was used to. Even on her fifth outing, she still dreaded the slow pace and the lack of a true fight. No adversity. No challenge.

To make matters worse, Megatron kept sending her to the same area.

So, to ease her boredom, Ebony had become a frequent visitor of the untouched tribe of humans that lived here.

They were still humans, and therefore a squishy, fragile nuisance, but it passed the time. Ebony had combed through this forest enough that she knew without a doubt that there were no energon mines hidden in the area.

It was a shame, too. At least then maybe she'd be able to kill time by helping transport the stuff.

The village came into view, structures for housing both on the ground and partway up some of the trees. She hadn't taken care to silence her approach, and when she arrived, the natives were watching her.

Cautious smiles crept over their faces as they took in her appearance, and, upon noticing she was, indeed, alone, they went about their usual tasks. Ebony had come to realize that they tolerated, even appreciated, her presence since it now tended to keep the predators at bay. It also frightened the prey animals, but their diets consisted largely of plants.

"Iahma," one of the men said by way of greeting.

With a brief nod, Ebony replied, "Iahma." The word was used for both hello and goodbye by the tribe. Sitting down at the edge of the village, Ebony kept her distance from them. While she had no particular care for the creatures, she didn't need to go about destroying their village with careless steps. It was enough to simply watch them go about their days. Observing them kept her processor busy.

With a vent, she realized how incredibly depressing it was that of all creatures, humans had now become her primary source of interaction, and even they rarely spoke to her. The language barrier certainly didn't help, but she was learning their dialect the more she spent time here.

Not that she could really talk to them about anything. She doubted they would understand that she was here on the whim of a warlord from another planet who had left her chained in a cell to die on their planet of origin.

Shaking her helm to no one but herself, Ebony suppressed her groan, and questioned why on Cybertron she'd followed him to this planet after all this time.

But as soon as she'd asked herself, the answer sprung into her mind.

She forced it down, though. Back into the depths it had come from, forcing herself to deny it.

The truth wanted to be released, though. It wanted to her to reveal itself to Megatron. To pick up where they shouldn't have left off.

They'd lost so much time from her lies.

A small child, a femme from what Ebony could tell, stared up at her from the ground.

Rolling her optics, Ebony looked down at the child before asking, "What do you want?" In a cold tone. While the child certainly hadn't understood the words, she'd certainly understood the annoyed tone of Ebony's voice and flinched before answering, "sotama kim."

Processing for a moment, Ebony's faceplates slackened a bit as she understood. You look sad.

With a vent, Ebony did something she hadn't done since her arrival to this planet and long before. "Liami kim." I am sad.

"Tar?" Why?

"Sin umol fik tehm saki sin." Her translation was a bit rough, but Ebony knew the child would understand the basic skeleton of it. My chief does not love me.

"Din sotik?" More of you?

"Enol din." Many more. "Enol, enol din." Many, many more.

"Para?" The child asked, tilting her head. Where?

Ebony pointed upward through the canopy. "Tair sahm." Sky ship.

The girl's eyebrows creased in confusion. "Sahm?"

Ebony had forgotten that the child had not experienced ships yet, and only the older men had used that word before. "Sahm . . ." Ebony repeated. "Nonn gahn," she elaborated, gesturing with her arms. Large boat. Accordingly, she pointed to the small boats that carried the fishers on the river every so often.

After processing for a moment, the girl's eyebrows rose. "Nonn gahn?"

Ebony nodded. "Tanki nonn. Tanki nonn tair gahn." Very large. Very large sky boat.

The girl seemed impressed, and it almost made Ebony smirk, but the guilt and sadness crept over her again.

"Raib tar sot yaik?" Then why you here?

Venting slowly, Ebony tried not to let the sorrow show, but she was sure it shone through. The flashes of Cybertron came to her. The Pits, the fights, the lack of equality and the struggle to obtain it . . .

And how, more than anything she'd thought possible, she had found something worth holding onto in the darkness of the life she'd been created into. One she'd had no say in, but had to embrace or die, and the mech that had showed up to become a glimmer of light in the inky dark.

And she had tried to embrace him.

Tried, and failed because despite the energon stained on her hands, inside she had felt like a small sparkling, no more than the little girl in front of her.

"Liat bari." I was afraid.