A/N Alright, this idea hit me when I was talking to xLosersRuleTheWorldx.
Disclaimer: Hasbro owns Transformers, xLosersRuleTheWorldx owns Geisha formers, Ice Flare is mine.
Pairings: Optimus X Megatron, Hinted Ultra Magnus X Charlotte
Ice Flare looked at her servos in near disbelief. The white and gold had been replaced with grey and silver. She caught her reflection, her visor was replaced with a red one. It had been a struggle, but they forced her to wear it, with alot of Optimus pleading her to do so.
The reason for all this was that Ultra Magnus and his best Samurai were holding a peace feast and requested that Megatron, Optimus and his best warriors attend. Megatron accepted, but wasn't sure if Optimus would on the grounds that Ice Flare would be needed as his attendant. Eventually, he settled on this...monstrosity. She would go in disguise, and if she tried to run, her loved ones would be dragged back to Kaon and murdered before her very optics.
They arrived and as Optimus and his warriors left, Megatron held Ice Flare back.
"Remember Ice Flare, you are dead, and unless you want your loved ones likewise, you will not say anything, and your name is Shadowstrike. Do you understand?"
Ice Flare bowed. "Yes...Master."
"Good. After me."
Ice Flare's optics were in awe as she saw the glimmering lights of the Iaconian palace. How beautiful it was to her.
The Kaon party saw three bots in the palace court. One was Ultra Magnus, looking regal in his freshly waxed armor. The other was Sentinel Prime; Ice Flare's former commanding Daimyo. And at last, was a little red mech scowling while one hand rested on the sword at his hip. Ice Flare recognized him immediately. It was Cliffjumper. They had been acquaintances and frequently had heated debates over the finer points of fighting. He and Wild Bolt had grown to be fast friends and sparring partners. It was a good friendship as both had a notion to be firey in combat.
Ultra Magnus approached Megatron. "Megatron, I bid you welcome to Iacon. I trust the journey was well?"
"Quite Magnus. My Daimyos, my mate Optimus, and his attendant, Shadowstrike." He motioned to Ice Flare who boughed low.
Ultra Magnus ushered them inside. "The feast will begin shortly. I am afraid that we are short on servants. Do you have any to spare for the evening?"
Megatron looked calm. "I only brought the one, but she will be more than enough to assist you."
Ultra Magnus nodded. "Cliffjumper, please show the servant to the kitchen."
Cliff let out a gruff acknowledgment. "This way."
As Ice Flare and Cliff walked out of sight, he questioned her. "So, your an attendant?"
Ice Flare willed her voice higher before she spoke. "Yes. I have served my Master all my life."
Cliffjumper narrowed his optics. "Interesting body type. What are you?"
Ice Flare thought quickly. "Um...I was born in Tyger Pax. My parents sold me when I was young."
Cliffjumper showed her to the kitchen, told the servants of what was happening and walked away. "Tyger Pax huh?..." He whispered when he was away from the door. "Unlikely. What are you hiding?"
The feast was a lavish affair. All the Samurai sat a large table with the Shoguns at one end, and their mates at the other. Ice Flare noted Optimus was enjoying conversing with what appeared to be a pink femme. As she carried her tray, she heard someone call out.
"Excuse me? Can we get some energon?"
For a second, Ice Flare's spark halted. She knew that voice. She looked up and saw to her spark's terror, a well polished Jazz and a dignified Prowl beckoning to her. Beating back her fear, she approached shyly. She bowed, keeping her helm down. The two each took a cube.
"Thank ya. Your one of Megatron's servants?" Jazz smiled.
"That is correct. Please enjoy your energon."
Prowl smiled. "Pretty and polite." He suddenly frowned and tilted his helm.
Ice Flare panicked. "Something wrong esteemed one?"
Prowl shook his head. "No; just...you remind me of someone I loved dearly. Her name was Ice Flare."
Ice Flare's spark was on the verge of collapse. She could feel the condensation begin to collect on her armor. "She sounds very nice."
Prowl nodded and motioned with the energon in hand. "Thank you."
Ice Flare bowed and hurried away without trying to run. As she walked by Cliffjumper, she heard something that made her listen.
"Wild Bolt was nothing but a traitor. Got his femme friend killed, ran away, and is a disgrace of a warrior. I say if he's ever found, we should slowly rip his door wings off so he can scream."
Ice Flare saw red. There was one last cube on her tray. Making it seem like an accident, she dropped the cube on the loud mouth's helm.
"OH! I'm sorry!" Ice Flare said, trying to make it sound genuine.
Cliffjumper shot up out of his chair, features contorting in anger as the energon dribbled down his face. "You did that on purpose you filthy Kaonian!"
Prowl and Jazz over heard the conflict and came up behind her.
"Now, now Cliff. She didn't mean anything intentional. Did you?" Jazz asked. He watched Ice Flare shake her helm. "There you go."
Prowl motioned towards the corridor to the kitchen. "Why don't we all go wash up?"
As the two elder Samurai escorted the Maiko, Cliff realized something. That anger at what he had said, and that timing...it was something that... "Ice Flare would do." He whispered. His features morphed into smugness as he went to the Kitchen. Only those three were present. The gray femme was dabbing her kimono as the other two watched Cliff come in.
Cliffjumper laughed. "You had me going. You reeeaaallly had me going. Between the new paint, the visor, and that cutesy timid voice, you've got everyone fooled; Even these two."
Ice Flare's helm shot up. "W-what do you mean? I have not deceived anyone. I am simply a humble ser-"
"Drop the act. I know it's you...Ice Flare."
Jazz and Prowl's optics darted to the femme. True, her height was about the same, but it was impossible.
"Cliff, have ya gone off the deep end?" Jazz asked. "Flare's gone. She died at-"
"We never found her body. Isn't it strange that this femme has the same body structure? Tell me, Shadowstrike, if that really is your name, where in Tyger Pax were you born?"
"I was very young when I was sold. I don't remember."
"Likely story. So do all Maikos wear shoulder armor, or just the ones reserved for-"
"Cliffjumper that is enough! You won't shame this poor femme." Prowl was cold as he said it.
"Of course." He walked to the wash basin and cleaned his head. He then looked at Ice Flare. "My humblest apologies Shadowstrike." As he began to walk out, he stopped. "Oh, one more thing...THINK FAST!" Cliffjumper whirled and threw a bowl followed by another.
Ice Flare didn't think, she reacted. Launching into a rolling dive, she caught the two bowls whilst in a leaning crouch. Her optics widened as she realized what had just happened.
Cliffjumper smiled. "Nice catch." He then walked out.
Ice Flare stood up and put the bowls on the counter. The two remaining Samurai were shocked.
"How'd you do that?" Jazz asked.
Ice Flare smiled sheepishly. "Beginners luck? Please, excuse me." As she went to walk out, she slipped on some energon that had pooled where Cliffjumper had stood. Down she fell. As she did, something fell from her kimono and skidded across the floor to the Iaconians. Prowl picked it up in horror. It was a blue visor. The exact one he had given his daughter when she had become a student of Jazz.
Ice Flare saw their horrified expressions. "It is you." Prowl whispered. Ice Flare bit her lip component and thought fast, as quick as she could, she pushed a nearby table between her and them, turned, and ran.
The two Samurai cleared the table and gave chase. Jazz ran down an adjacent corridor while Prowl stayed right behind her.
Ice Flare's chassis began heaving as she ran as fast as her leg struts could carry her. She was almost at the gardens, from there she could- A flash of white appeared in the darkened corridor, and before she could avoid him, Jazz rammed her sideways into the wall, pinning her arms. Prowl caught up and pulled the red visor away. Ice Flare shut her optics and flinched.
"Open them. Now." Prowl's voice was in his most dangerous tone as he said this. Ice Flare refused, but Jazz saw and put pressure on her wrists. Wincing in pain, Ice Flare slowly opened them, revealing the unique set of green and brown optics that stared pleadingly at them.
"Please, let me go." She forced out.
Prowl and Jazz were at a loss for words. "Your alive? Who's done this-?" Prowl stopped as he saw something under the rumpled kimono. Gingerly, he pulled back the fabric, and his vents hitched. There, was the Kaonian slave symbol. A purple pointed face with a shield behind it. "No..." He looked at Ice Flare. "We're taking you to Ultra Magnus, he'll fix this."
They took her wrists and tried to pull her forward.
"NO!" Ice Flare yelled. She broke the grip and ran, only to be tackled by Jazz again.
"Why?! Were tryin to help ya!" Jazz's voice was laced with confusion and grief.
Ice Flare burst into tears. "Because he'll kill you!" She wailed.
The two Iaconians let their grip on the Maiko soften. "Who will kill us?" Prowl asked.
"M-Megatron! He swore that if I tried to leave, he'd have you killed. Please. For your own sake, forget you ever saw me."
A shadow loomed behind the trio. "I'm afraid it's too late for that Ice Flare." Megatron's voice shot pure fear into the Maiko's spark.
It was over in a few astroseconds. Megatron seized Prowl first, and shot him through the helm with his fusion cannon. His grey, lifeless frame skidded back from the blast and came to rest near her own. "Father!"
Jazz struggled as Megatron lifted him over his head, his giant servos encompassing both Jazz's legs and arms.
"Please! NO!" Ice Flare yelled. Her cry fell on deaf audio receptors as the tyrant tore Jazz in half. He threw Jazz's torso to her.
"That is what you deserve...slave." Megatron walked away.
Ice Flare scooped up Jazz's torso in her arms. He was still online.
"I'm sorry Jazz!" She whispered as he started to turn grey. "So, so, sorry Master."
Jazz looked at her weakly, yet angrily. "You are not my student anymore. Go serve your real Master Megatron. You are one of them now..." Jazz died in her arms.
Ice Flare felt pain as the slave emblem on her chest glowed red hot. It burned! She looked down at Jazz's visor to see a pair of ruby optics staring back in the reflection. "No...No! NO!"
Ice Flare bolted upright on her berth; her white and gold frame heaving and covered in condensation. She looked around. It was still the servant quarters, and her visor was still on her; though it had been repaired since three days ago. Most likely Optimus had something to do with it, though he denied it. Slowly Ice Flare sank back down into the rough sheets of the berth, and tried very hard to wipe the terrifying images from her mind as she slipped back into an uncomfortable sleep.
A/N Yes...Ice Flare does have nightmares. Hope you enjoyed!