Yeager Chronicles: After Extinction

10: Cade

Tessa did not come back; she didn't turn back. She walked passed the mecha in the yard, and passed a less than pleased Crosshairs. (He had heard what Tessa called them and didn't like that she said it in front of Drift.) But Tessa walked her way to town and away from her father and boyfriend – who soon she would be VERY sore at in the coming weeks... because he told Cade why she was booted from campus.

Cade was not only upset at the fact that she'd lied to him about passing her classes because all the tests were in her room; they were completely filled out with corrected answers. That wasn't the only thing that was prohibited on campus that she has stowed away. She had fake IDs, Cade now without any question but with all the hesitance knew she'd most likely been drinking.

The thought of a Sophomore in college having alcohol is nothing new but that doesn't change that his daughter could've been doing the same. And she was a junior now! She should have figured out that by now that alcohol is not all it's cracked up to be. It certainly is NOT fun.

Tessa also had a .22 pistol which was poorly hidden under her pillow. Houston was not a terribly rough area but it was not so dangerous on campus because of the resource officers, so the need for a weapon – though it be small – to be in her possession on campus.

Not only that, he could deal with the tests and the fake IDs to a point, but Cade wouldn't be able to have it with drugs. She had Adderall, an ADHD drug. There were also bottles of Prozac, an antidepressant that can cause anger fits and bouts of aggressive behavior towards others. That one kind of explains why she was steamed.

But now, not only had she been lying to Cade, Shane was the one who got what was coming to him from BOTH of them. He was told that he was a willow by Tessa. And told by Cade that he's disappointed in him but he did not expect him to be there for her every second of the day. But nothing hurts worse than someone – especially a parent, the parent of the daughter who you were dating – says they are disappointed in you.

None of the three spoke to each other for what felt like weeks when in reality it had only been nine days. Yes, in that span of time the three could have made an amends to the situation at hand. But at this point, if the three could be in the same room without hurling out hurtful things than it would be different for sure. But that is not going to be happening, not right now. Tessa is too steamed to be logical and Cade is just Cade: wanting the best for his only daughter and attempting not to get too frustrated at her. She was the only family he really had left.

Tessa still had Shane, he still had his family, his mother. Even with his father leaving him when he was barely a tyke on his own, he still had family that was alive and well enough to be functional in societal matters. Cade now really didn't have either. He did not have his wife, his mother and father died before the craze of the Chicago war and the rest that happened. Cade did not really have any family left – that was human.

Though he didn't always think of the mecha outside his home as family, they did protect him and give him advice. That's kind of what a family does, right? They make sure you're going to be alright and try to make things decent and keep them decent. But not all families are born of a blood connection, but a connection that of the heart. A trust that binds everyone together.

Cade is not wholly upset – never mind, that's a complete lie, he's completely upset at Tessa for lying to him, but he's more upset that her boyfriend was the one to say anything about it.

The three haven't really spoken to each other since that day, since she got back from Huston University. But Tessa seemed to be doing fine, especially since she'd most likely been under the influence of Prozac during that day. Shane did say that she went off to his grandmothers' and that he was kicked out because she (Shane's grandmother) thought he did something stupid to Tessa. And Tessa was being vague enough to make anyone think that Shane did SOMETHING, but what? Only she'd know.

And the mecha outside, Drift specifically, felt like complete shit. It was not only Shane who knew what was happening, he had known too. That's why he was frazzled and more upset than letting on about Tessa doing any of it. He didn't have it in him to say it to Cade. He wasn't even able to tell Crosshairs, not at first.

It scared Drift, hearing that Tessa was being less than pleasant but after connecting the dots himself, well, he noticed. He saw what was happening at it reminded himself of what happened to him in the Underbelly, the place where he first had his own taste for addiction.

Syk. It was some terrible stuff. Drift knew he did some terrible things while under its influence, and how he'd been used others... to recruit others for the Decepticon's growing army. The Syk changed him, made him weak. That's what he always thought. But the only reason he was alive at all was because of Ratchet. He said when he was close to having his spark stop and fade into the well, Ratchet said he saw something in him. That one CMO in Iacon told him to get straight, he some work, get a place, that he had something to live for.

He did not know it but Drift did. He did have something to live for, sadly, he didn't realize it until everything was falling apart and in ruins. On this world and on others, like on Colexy. It was too late, their own civil war started and there was nothing that could have been done to amend it. Or sending off one of his students back to Cybertron with one of his ships... He still wasn't too happy about doing it, only to realize when he got back, it was chaos there too. There was not much reason to stick around for that shit.

The past, he tried to push to the back of his processor, and perhaps attempt to help Cade in his own time of chaos and calamity. He already had some knowledge of what he did but... he did not wish Tessa to go through what he had. By then for her, it'd be too late. So Drift would try to talk to Cade and give the best advice that he could offer with his... experience on the matter.

Note: I know this shorter than my usual but honestly I've been just stuck. Please understand that right now my mind has been far from well. I will continue to try and update, though they will slow down... as you most likely have seen.