Antebellum's Fool

TITLE: Antebellum’s Fool

CONTINUITY: Transformers: Animated

RATING: PG/K+

SUMMARY: Before the war, nothing could truly separate us. Then the war came and tore us apart. But still I try, still I feel the fragile wires holding us together, still I try to make her mine again. And I will try and try until it kills me.

INSPIRED BY: TFRarePairing’s Weekly Request Prompt on LiveJournal

PROMPT: Drift/Botanica – Before The War

Hopefully, by now, you are all acquainted with the Cybertronian terminology I use in this fic. If not….

Body parts (all approximate, and the anatomical chart I use for my stories):

Hands = Servos
Arms = Support Servos
Legs = Stabilizing Servos
Tongue = Glossa
Feet = Landing Pads
Shoulders and Knees = Shoulderpads and kneepads, respectively
Eyes = Optics
Fingers = Digits
Hips = Pistons
Lips = Lip Components
Mouth = Vocal Receptor
Teeth = Denta
Ears = Audio Receptor
Neck = Chassis Pillar
Torso/Chest = Chassis
Body = Frame/Shell
Brain = Processor
Sections of brain = Lobes

And time (all approximate, and the chronological chart I use for my stories):

Any time less than a second = Microklik
Second = Nanoklik
Minute = Klik
8.3 Minutes = Breem
Hour = Cycle
6 Hours = Joor
Day (both day and night) = Solar Cycle
Week = Decacycle
Month = Orbital Cycle
6 Months/Half a Stellar Cycle = Orn
Year = Stellar Cycle
83 Years = Vorn
Approx. 100 years = Megacycle

Hope this helps.

I’m uploading all my stories because work already started, and college starts again this coming Monday, and I know I will not have as much time as I did over the Holiday break to write or post, so…….yeah. Not only that, but Internet is still down at my place, and I’m getting more familiar with the workers at this coffee shop (that has free Wi-Fi) than I’d like to be.

Now, first off, what many of you are probably wondering is what kind of title is ‘Antebellum’s Fool’?

If you don’t care for the explanation, skip this and click that arrow, the one in the upper left-hand corner of your screen, back to the main page. But for those that want to know……..

‘Antebellum’, is a Latin phrase that translates into ‘before the war’. ‘Ante’ = before, or predating, and ‘bellum’ = war, or great battle. ‘Antebellum’ refers to any period of time before any great war, but when people use the term, they refer to the decades before the American Civil War between the North and South on the U.S. Mainland.
That was when slavery was legal in several states, and all states began unfolding their ‘Manifest Destiny’, expanding westward and robbing land from the Native American peoples that lived in these areas.
With the intention to teach Native peoples ‘civilization’, many innocents, Natives and Colonists, Northerners and Southerners alike, lost their land, loved ones, and lives.

Antebellum also tends to refer to the art, landscapes, and music alive before the hardships of the Civil War, hence why you have bands like ‘Lady Antebellum’ with their country-inspired take on rock, and ‘The Civil Wars’ with their simple, guitar-laced country soul.

In this case, of course, antebellum refers to the literal meaning. Before the war. Not the war that separated Deadlock and Binary on different factions, different sides, but the war of the spark. When Deadlock becomes Drift, turns to the Autobots, and finds that his lady love is on the arm of another bot. One that did, in fact, betray Ratchet on his search for Arcee by giving codes to her room to Shockwave.

If you watched Beast Wars, you’ll know that Botanica was once a bot named Binary. Since a lot of the BW Botanica carries into the TFA Botanica (including her relationship with Rattrap), I figure I’d bring this tidbit into the story as well.

A good majority of this story is inspired by Dark-WildCat’s comic titled ‘The Worth’ on Deviantart. [link]

It’s a beautifully illustrated and executed story, and the first 24 pages are on DA for your viewing convenience.
I’ve combined some elements of her story (the Deadlock/Binary relationship, what happened between them up until page 24) with the Visor League plot of my stories (the secret ‘Third Faction’ that consisted of many visored bots).

If you have any questions, let me know. Otherwise, you can get your comments and concerns down in a review!

Until next time, lovelies.

~Ylysha

DISCLAIMER: Transformers: Animated belongs to Hasbro, as well as the characters.

Preview pic courtesy of Lecidre.