To Help a Friend

[Charter]

"Do you know why that decision was made?" So far they were making good progress but he was ready for more resistance at any moment. It was impossible to tell when he might try to start denying the memories that were resurfacing.

[Phayze]

"Because...Because..." Phayze shook his head, trying to clear his processor. After a moment, he glared up at Charter. "How the frag am I supposed to know? I wasn't there! Stop lying to me!"

[Charter]

"How have I lied to you?" Charter asked evenly. "Have I done anything but ask you questions? Did I even tell you my name? Wasn't it you who provided all the information? And how could you have known any of that if you weren't there?"

[Phayze]

"No, it can't be true..." Phayze shook his head again, hands moving to hold his helm. "You're lying. You Autobots have done something to my memories..." Even as he said them, the words felt empty and untrue. The constructed personality that had been helping him survive among the enemy for so long was finally coming apart.

[Charter]

"What chance would we have had to do so? And even if we had, wouldn't it have been simpler to completely alter them instead of trying to convince you of something deep within your subconscious?" Charter replied simply. Phayze was obviously desperate to rationalize something that made no sense, and forcing him to realize the flaws would help break through the mental barrier. It may seem a bit harsh to keep pushing at this point but it was crucial. Charter would be able to tell if it was getting to be too much for him, when they may need to take a break, but for now he had to keep going. To back down now would imply a defeat, possibly causing Phayze to believe they were trying to trick him after all.

[Phayze]

Something felt like it snapped within him, and he could almost see some of the old, no longer necessary coding unraveling in his processor. "Primus, Charter. You would never do anything like that, from what you've told me about yourself." He looked back up at the tall mech outside of his cell, his optics having taken on a slightly lighter shade of purple. "Slag, I'm pretty sure Optimus would be completely against it..."

[Jazz]

Jazz had been listening quietly to the conversation so far, letting Charter do all the talking. He could see that Phayze remembered who he really was on some level, they just had to get the truth to break through the walls he had built up during his time with the Decepticons to protect himself. Now that he was back with the Autobots, those walls were not needed anymore, and Jazz was determined to help Phayze recover his true self again.

Jazz couldn't wait any longer and he opened the door, stepping into the brig cell chamber behind Charter, moving up to stand next to the psychologist. "That's right Phayze, he wouldn't hurt any of us n Optimus would never allow anything like that. It was Charter who helped keep my processor together while Ratchet, Wheeljack, n Jolt put me back together when they all found me..." he offered, suppressing a shudder at the memory of waking up on that beach and what had happened in the med bay. He looked over at Charter then, hoping he hadn't overstepped, then looked back to Phayze. "Ya remember what ya told me back on Cybertron just before you left for your mission?" he asked then, hoping to help jar loose another memory for his friend.

[Charter]

Charter finally let a small bit of emotion show, a soft, warm, gentle smile that Phayze was likely to recognize now that he remembered a bit more about him. It wasn't an expression of victory, or relief, but one of pure comfort towards another. He glanced back towards the door when Jazz entered but kept his focus on Phayze. He had figured it would be inevitable that Jazz would join the conversation, he just hoped he had grasped the technique he had been using through the observation well enough to go along with it. The trick was to lead Phayze to those memories through questions and go off of the information he provided. it was easy to deny information provided by another, it was much more difficult when you provided the information yourself. For now he waited for Phayze's answer to Jazz's question, it wouldn't do well to bombard him with too many questions.

[Phayze]

Phayze's optics snapped over to Jazz when the silver mech burst in, his frame tensing for a few seconds before relaxing. Jazz's question prompted a tilt of the head as he tried to recall, but...

"No..." He replied, shaking his head. "I don't. I'm sorry, sir. My memory circuits appear to be a bit scrambled."

[Jazz]

Jazz seemed to visibly grow smaller then and he lowered his gaze. It seemed he had forgotten Jazz, and his efforts to rekindle those memories would only bring more disappointment. "You have forgotten me..." he murmured softly, "You know my name only because the others told you, but you've forgotten me, forgotten who I am." It was a painful realization, but one he had to accept. It seemed as if only Charter could truly help him now, and Jazz had to let go, as much as he didn't want to. Yet he couldn't bring himself to leave just yet, doing so felt too much like giving up on a friend, something Jazz simply could not do. So, he listened, waiting, hoping something would surface, some glimmer of hope that he hadn't completely lost Phayze's friendship.

[Charter]

Charter looked over to Jazz at his reaction for a moment before turning back to Phayze. He wanted to help comfort the intelligence officer but, at the same time, he knew he had to keep his focus on Phayze. They had made good progress, even had something of a breakthrough it seemed, he did not want to risk losing that progress, something that would undoubtedly hurt Jazz to see. This next question may reveal something shocking though, a long kept secret. "Phayze, aside from yourself only three people knew about your mission, can you remember who they are." Two should be easy to recall, they had been mentioned before, but the third, that would be a test of memory.

[Phayze]

"I didn't forget you, sir. It's just...fuzzy..." Phayze shook his head again, trying to clear more of the "cobwebs" out. "Well, there was Optimus. He's the one who wanted the mission to occur. Then there was Jazz. He helped train me, so I'd be ready. The last one..." He vented sharply, like a sigh, going quiet for a few seconds. "Was you, Charter. I accidentally spilled it while we were sparing one Cycle."

[Jazz]

Jazz looked at Charter oddly for a moment, his thoughts turning in his processor, but he kept quiet. He looked back at Phayze then, not sure what to think. Perhaps he was not so close to Phayze as he thought, perhaps their friendship was not what he thought it was. He lowered his gaze then and turned, moving to sit down on the edge of the console. It hurt to know that he was just a coworker, just an officer to Phayze, but the truth was itself and he had to accept it.

It was then that a small creature, a white Siamese looking cat with black ears, 13.5 inches from nose to tail, with two softly glowing rings wrapped around its chassis, one around its upper torso just behind its shoulders, the other around its waist, a tiny glowing oval in the center of its back, and a small black round spot on its upper chest, crawled up out of Jazz' shoulder and nuzzled him reassuringly, an electronic purring sound rolling out from the tiny cat. Jazz closed his optics and brought a hand up to the little cat, petting it gently.

[Charter]

"Do you recall anything else we've discussed in the past?" Charter asked. He knew that Phayze's memories of him would likely be easier to recover. He wasn't considered high profile, so there were less factors that were likely to cause blocks of those memories or alterations to them, less to corrupt them. By causing those memories to resurface fully there was a chance of a chain reaction following, breaking though some of the other obstacles in his memory as it was. It may be a slow process, or a rapid one, there was no way to tell, but it should work eventually.

[Phayze]

"You told me about your family." Was Phayze's response, looking over at Jazz. "How your Alpha fell ill, and died, inspiring your sister to go to medical school. Your Beta's subsequent depression and suicide from the broken bond inspired you to study psychology, which you tried to use as a negotiator in the beginning of the war. That cost you your sister." Something else began to stir in the back of Phayze's processor, and he spoke it as it drifted to the front. "'I'll be back before you know it. How hard could it be?'" He looked directly at Jazz as he said those words. "Guess it was harder than I'd thought it was."