A/N 1: Hey, AlexisPrime here. I just want to give you a little bit of information before you jump into the story. This was written over Facebook messager. By the two of us. ChloeBee, being the AWESOME girl she is, retyped it by hand. If you have ANY questions, you can either ask one of us directly by saying who you're asking, or just asking if it doesn't matter who. Your questions will NOT go ignored. Now, for what a "Xyleon" is.

Xyleon: A Xyleon is a shape shifter from a planet close to Cybertron. They have a spark, like a Cybertronian. They can't form anything like a car or a gun, but they can change their size from a human to an Autobot height, or even further in either direction, either smaller or taller. Their true form is around Ironhide's height with blue skin and extremely thin wires for hair. They have optics and slightly sharp tips for nails that curl almost like claws. They are known for their beauty, at least most of the time. They are techno-organics with Cybertronian technology.

It was a regular day at the Autobot base and, already, mayhem had begun. Chloe Burton and Alexis Lovell had decided to race each other down the halls of the NEST base on their Cybertronian inline skates and ended up, not being able to stop properly, smashing right into Ratchet's leg.

"Ooof!" Chloe cried out as she smacked her head on sharp piece of armour on Ratchet's leg, cutting into her soft flesh as it did so. Alexis, being able to stop because she was a Xyleon (Cybertron's twin race) came to a neat skid beside her fallen friend, concern etching itself onto her graceful features.

"Chloe! Are you alright?" Alexis cried out as she unstrapped her inline skates, along with Chloe's, and knelt down to her friend. Chloe opened her eyes and winced at the sharp pain in her forehead.

"Urgh, I'm not sure Alexis," Chloe replied as she stood up, the base spinning before her woozy eyes. Then, she felt a warm trickling down the side of her head and a sharp tang of metal pricked her senses. Cautiously, she reached up with grazed fingers and touched it. Red, sticky and warm. Blood.

"Oh my Primus! You're bleeding!" Alexis exclaimed as she pulled out a tissue from her trouser pocket and started dabbing the cut.

"Ow, ow, ow," Chloe whined as the Xyleon dabbed gingerly at the cut, "OW! PRIMUS ALEXIS!" Chloe shouted as she flinched and Alexis poked her in the eye as well as hitting the cut. Alexis sighed and pulled Chloe back to the ground to keep her still. Ratchet also knelt down and started to examine the girl's wound.

"Hmm… Chloe it is a cut but I cannot determine whether it is deep or not. I'm going to suggest that you accompany me back to the Medbay immediately," Ratchet said, startling Chloe at his kind offer.

"Uh, no way!" Chloe jumped to her feet and ran for all she was worth knowing that a trip to the Medbay, for anyone, can never end well… especially for her and the Lambo Twins. Ratchet looked at Alexis pointedly, expecting her to run after Chloe. Alexis rolled her optics and ran after her human friend. Neither of the girls wanted to be caught by Ratchet nor their guardians/bond mates for both knew they would get the lecture of a lifetime. Chloe's optics started to blur as she was forced to slow because of the lack of oxygen. Chloe, as she viewed it, was made for short-distance sprints, not long distance marathons or escapades. Alexis quickly caught up, catching Chloe as the human swayed dangerously and tripped over her own feet.

"Maybe running wasn't such a good idea!" Alexis laughed as Chloe's optics dimmed in embarrassment.

"No, I guess not…" Chloe mumbled as she slowly regained her balance. "Alexis, you can let me go now. I'm better!" Chloe struggled against her friend's strong grip. Although Chloe was a techno-organic and was stronger than anyone else her age, she was no match for the Xyleon's strength. Alexis let her go and watched for a second as her friend took off at a run. A sigh left her lips as she did the same.

Minutes after starting to run again, a black pede came down almost directly in front of Chloe.

"CHLOE!" Alexis shouted, "LOOK OUT IRONHIDE!" Ironhide, being Ironhide, didn't hear the warnings and continued walking… and nearly flattened the two girls. Alexis quickly changed size; easily reaching Ironhide's height and pushed the black mech backwards, toppling him away from Chloe.

"What the slag?" Ironhide roared in anger.

"YOU NEARLY FLATTENED CHLOE!" Alexis thundered in a very unladylike manner, thunderclouds raging across her face. She got to her feet quickly, snatching Chloe up off the ground protectively.

"Ah!" Chloe cried out as her friend grabbed her, leaving her stomach miles below her. She clutched the now blue hand tightly, trying not to lose her lunch all over her friend. She was sure Alexis wouldn't appreciate it.

"A-Alexis," Chloe stuttered as she snapped her optics shut, "c-can y-y-you p-p-p-put me d-down n-now?" Alexis, all anger almost forgotten, complied and gently set Chloe down to the side, allowing her to slide to the ground next to the wall. Chloe was breathing heavily and her face was as white as a sheet, like she'd been on a roller coaster several times.

"Chloe, I'm SO sorry!" Alexis said, still glaring daggers at Ironhide who only got to his pedes before crossing his arms.

"S'ok Alexis," Chloe breathed, her optics still shut tight, as Alexis returned to her human form. Ironhide was still glaring at the two girls but soon stopped sharp when Alexis returned to her original form and stepped up to him in a very threatening manner.

"You-," Alexis growled at the stubborn warrior, poking him hard in the chest plates, "-could've killed Chloe. Are you not sorry?" Ironhide glanced towards where Chloe was still panting.

"Fine. Sorry, Chloe. Happy now, femme?"

"That's it!" Alexis shrieked, tackling Ironhide to the ground.

"Oomph!" Ironhide huffed as he was thrown to the ground, startling a few soldiers at the end of the corridor. A few of the NEST soldiers looked like they wanted to draw guns, while others simply seemed to want to watch. Ironhide managed to grab onto one of Alexis' arms and threw her off of him. Even then, it was clear the mini battle wasn't over.

Meanwhile Chloe had drawn her arms over her head, trying in vain to block out the battle that had erupted over her safety, her faced screwed up with a horrendous memory leak going on in her processor.

'Where am I?'

'Chloe, will you rescue me if something bad happens?'

'Who are you?'

'Sir! The test subject has escaped!'

'Vell find her! She must not escape!'

Animalistic, guttural roars erupted from the darkness.

Then pictures exploded in front of her optics: a torn bunny toy covered in blood, a corpse or two, gunfire shredding someone to bits, a lab with surgeon's tools and a strange robotic beast with half a face. A human face…. Her face.

Pain grabbed hold of her, along with horror, and fear. She couldn't tell if the scream she heard was a memory, her own, or someone else's. Something then happened to her, changing her. She felt… different. Bad, cruel, evil. A bloodlust boiled inside her. A need to kill everything.

"STOP IT!" she screamed, tearing her throat apart. Her entire body exploded into pain and agony as she screamed. The left side of her face was being covered by something, metal. Her hands sharpened into metal claws and her feet, her trainers, her clothes were covered in black metal. The metal spread up her neck and encased her head except for her mouth and right optic and her long black haired fringe. She had no control; all she could do was attack. The only visible optic changed from blue to red, full of hatred and anger. A sword/staff formed in her hand as she sprinted forwards and stabbed with it. She felt something give beneath the blade, followed by a scream of agony from her victim. Everything stopped for Alexis and Ironhide.

Suddenly a jolt of electricity shot through Chloe. She lost her grip on her weapon and it clattered to the floor. The surge of electricity coursed through her black metal body, ripping away the protective shell from her form. She screamed as her face was visible once more and her optics changed from red to blue. Her trainers were free as were her hair and clothes. The weapon vanished into dust as Chloe screamed her last sentence,

"NO! I AM BLACK CHARADE!"

Chloe crumpled to the floor beside the dust pile that was once the weapon, darkness claiming her quickly.

When Chloe came around, she was looking into the worried optics of both Ratchet and Jolt.

"Finally," Ratchet breathed a sigh of relief. She tried moving her arms, only to find them pinned into place by Alexis.

"No. Keep still Chloe," Alexis said softly, Chloe relaxing slightly in her larger friend's grip. Chloe tried moving her legs too but found Lennox and Epps holding them in place as well.

"Chloe, do you remember what happened?" Ratchet asked gently.

"No," Chloe said, looking to her friends for answers. It was then that she noticed the thick bandages wrapped around Alexis' ankle. "Did Ironhide hurt you?" The others exchanged glances.

"No, Chloe, you did," Lennox informed her.

Things just didn't make any sense anymore for Chloe. Why would she hurt her best friend? Better yet, how did she?

"WHAT? HOW COULD I HAVE DONE THAT?"

"Chloe, Chloe, easy," Ratchet coaxed. But Chloe was panicking. If it weren't for Alexis being the one holding her arms, she would've curled in on herself.

"NO!" Chloe screamed.

"Chloe, please! Calm down!" Alexis pleaded. Red filled the girl's vision as she struggled against her bonds. Lennox and Epps battling the powerful legs while Alexis tried to soothe her friend.

"I know it was an accident! Chloe, you must calm down. PLEASE," Alexis cried, tears of coolant streaming down her cheeks. Chloe's legs reared sharply, kicking Epps and Lennox in the faces, drawing blood.

"NO!" Ratchet shouted as he tried to stop the panicking girl from changing again. Before Chloe had a chance, Ratchet plunged a needle filled with a sedative into a vein, and Chloe relaxed completely, slipping into a dreamless sleep. Alexis let her go reluctantly before moving back. Now that Chloe was asleep, they only had to worry about the Xyleon. Alexis moved away from the others, slowly, before taking off at a run through the Medbay doors. Ratchet just missed her arm as she ran past him.

"Alexis!" Jolt cried, Ratchet shook his helm and hushed the younger Autobot.

"Jolt, leave her to recover. It must've been shocking enough to have her own best friend turn on her like that."

"But what if she does something that could cause her to get hurt?"

"She's smarter than that. And do you think Optimus would let her?"

"Well…" Jolt replied

"I'll alert Optimus, he'll get her back her and under control," Ironhide said gruffly, silencing the young bot's worrying mind. Jolt stiffly gave a nod.

"Lennox, Epps, are you both ok?" Ratchet asked the two soldiers as they mopped up the blood from their cuts. Both gave a solemn nod.

"What happened to Chloe in the first place?" Lennox asked.

"I don't know. We should watch her to make sure this doesn't happen again. I think we should also keep Alexis away from her," Ratchet responded in a grim tone.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Epps spoke up, "I'm thinking that Alexis is gonna be the kinda company Chloe might want after we've sorted her out, plus Jazz."

"Epps is right. Besides, you think you can keep that Xyleon away?" Ironhide added. Chloe stirred gently from her sleep, the sedative not strong enough. Jolt caught sight of the movement out of the corner of his optics. He slowly turned towards Ratchet.

"We may have more trouble on our hands," he warned.

"Aw, slag," Ironhide rumbled as he nudged Ratchet, alerting him to the potential danger. Ratchet noticed what the other Autobots in the room had already noticed.

"Frag it. That sedative should've been strong enough to keep her out of it for hours," Ratchet swore. Ironhide prepped his cannons, ready to shoot Chloe should she try it all again. He just hoped it wouldn't come to that.

"Don't. Even. THINK. About. It. Ironhide." Ratchet hissed poisonously at the black mech. Ironhide winced at the medic's tone and put the cannons away, the last thing they needed was yet more casualties. Ratchet commed Optimus immediately, informing his leader of the situation with both girls.

:: Optimus, this is Ratchet. We have a situation with Alexis and Chloe::

:: What is it Ratchet?:: Optimus commed back, concern plastering his voice.

:: Get down to the Medbay and I'll explain, but be quick:: Ratchet added before he left :: And should you see Alexis, bring her back here too::

It wasn't long before Optimus arrived, unfortunately alone. He entered the room quickly, looking to Ratchet for an explanation.

"Prime, earlier Chloe-" Ratchet began before Lennox shouted to him to 'get his aft over here now!'

"She's awake," Lennox and Epps chimed together sullenly, preparing themselves for a good fight against the techno-organic. Still horribly confused, Optimus followed Ratchet towards where Chloe was. The young girl was trembling, looking around with wide optics and a look of horror slapped across her face.

"O-Optimus? Where's Alexis? Ratchet, what's going on?" Chloe couldn't stop the fusillade of questions streaming from her mouth. Optimus himself turned to Ratchet. The medic shifted uneasily.

"I don't know where Alexis is," Optimus managed to say rather calmly.

Ratchet nearly face palmed. Here Chloe was, with no one close to her to comfort her and all Optimus Prime could say was that he didn't know where is 'girlfriend' was?

"Why don't you go FIND her then?" Ratchet snapped at Optimus. His anger at everything happening at that moment seemed funnelled at Optimus who almost scoffed. The Autobot leader then turned and left to try and find Alexis. Jolt, Ironhide and the two soldiers stared at the medic awkwardly before movement from Chloe brought everyone back to earth.

"Please, what happened?" Chloe asked. Ratchet took note of the fact that she was sweating.

"Chloe, do you feel dizzy at all? Any aches or pains?" Ratchet asked, trying to maintain a level tone. Chloe stared at the veteran medic.

"WHY WON'T ANYONE TELL ME WHAT IS GOING ON?" she yelled in despair, trying to shake off the hands pinning her down. Pleading glittered in her optics as tears started down her cheeks.

"We don't know what's going on. You need to calm down so that we can figure it out together. Jolt, get Jazz in here now," Ratchet ordered. Chloe's lips trembled at the thought of her bond mate seeing her in this way.

"NO! Please," her voice faded to a whisper, "don't get Jazz." Jolt stopped and nodded to her; accepting her request.

"Alexis then?"

"If you can find her," Came the barely audible response from the shattered form on the berth.

"Let's hope Optimus finds her quickly then," Ironhide said. Chloe let out a shaky sob at the broken memory of her hurting her friend. More tears streamed down her face as she pulled bits and pieces of the fight and stitched them together in her head.

But it still made no sense.

While Chloe dealt with trying to figure out what happened, Alexis was trying to run as fast as she could. But being trapped in a single form, along with being injured, made speed difficult. Her comm-link went off, but she ignored it. After all, shaky reception was normal seeing as she was part organic. Plus she could always say that she didn't receive the comm. Alexis knew that, once Chloe awoke, she would be needed by her side but to face her friend again was like trying to face Megatron in a bad mod; it wasn't going to happen.

She needed to get away. Oh, what she wouldn't give to have Celeste by her side. Celeste was always better at anything concerning emotions. And that was why Alexis was weak; it was because she was so fragile. She needed to be protected at all times, hidden from life in case it broke her. And Optimus had helped keep her safe. Upon realising this, Alexis stopped. She knew she couldn't bear to face Chloe again but she also knew that she must… for her friend's sake. If Chloe couldn't be strong, she would have to be in her friend's place. Just like Optimus was for her. Trembling, Alexis turned back towards the base. It was then that both Alexis and Optimus caught sight of each other.

"Alexis!" Optimus cried out. The Autobot leader ran towards her, catching her in a hug as soon as he was close enough. She clutched his armour tightly, crying hard while he rubbed her back.

"Alexis, please come back to the Medbay. Chloe's awake and she needs you." Alexis nodded gently; pushing away from him enough to catch is optics.

"O-okay," she said. Optimus vented in relief as he laced his fingers and led her back to the Medbay. Not even halfway there, he picked her up bridal style to rest her poor abused ankle.

"Optimus!" Alexis cried out, startled by the sudden movement, "I can walk!"

"No, you can't," Optimus replied firmly, "you have to rest that ankle, I'm not sure what happened but I can tell that it was pretty bad." Optimus bowed his head and kissed Alexis lightly on the forehead. Blushing badly, Alexis turned her face away from him, and he had to laugh at her actions.

"You are easily embarrassed, are you not?" laughed Optimus as a dark shade of blue rose in the Xyleon's cheeks.

"So?" she asked, rubbing at her cheeks to both stop the blush, and to wipe away the tears.

"It's funny, Alexis." Optimus smiled, Alexis couldn't help but smile back at her soon-to-be-bonded. That smile faded though when the Medbay came into sight. It was as if the dread and fear were alive, infecting everyone that came near it.

"Prime…" Alexis began, only to be hushed by Optimus, as the doors opened and Prime set her gently down onto her feet. She winced as pain shot up her leg from the wound, but she tried her best to ignore it. She gingerly put weight on it as she walked over to the berth Chloe was resting on. Something like relief flashed through the younger girl's optics.

"Alexis, you came back. Where'd you go?" Chloe asked, her voice sounding so young, innocent and tired yet afraid and weary.

Alexis felt horrible for running away from the situation in the first place. She smiled to the best of her abilities and softly replied, "I just went for a run." Although she knew that Chloe was aware of how much her friend hated to run.

"Fibber," Chloe laughed softly as Ratchet instructed Lennox to inject a weak sedative to stop her from struggling again. Alexis joined in with an honest laugh and a smile.

"Alright, you caught me. But I did go running."

Then Chloe's face grew serious, "Alexis, what happened in the corridor?"

Alexis' smile froze as she painfully remembered the horrific events that happened not so long ago as she thought.

"What… part?" she practically squeaked.

"Everything. Please, I've gotta know." Tears started pouring down Chloe's face as she begged to know, "I don't remember anything."

"You screamed, Ironhide and I got closer, and you attacked. You have good aim, you know that?" Chloe tried to shake her head.

"No, in detail. I need to know everything that happened because I know that it wasn't over just like that."

"You're… right," Alexis said. Her optics flickered from the faces of Chloe, Ironhide, Jolt, Ratchet, and settled briefly on Optimus who needed to know what happened as well. "When you screamed, Ironhide had me pinned. He helped me up and you screamed the words 'stop it' as loud as you could before you went back to just screaming. Then, you changed. You had… claws, and… red optics. You were just covered in metal," She paused to push back tears, "you had a staff. Before either of us could do anything, you rushed at me. Jolt shocked you, you went back to normal. I'm so sorry." She stepped backwards, nearly tripping, causing her to slam her ankle against the side of a berth. Alexis howled in pain, crumpling back to the floor.

Chloe, Optimus and all those who weren't present at the time of the girl's transformation were speechless.

Then Ironhide spoke, "Yeah, you had this staff with a thick blade on it, you stabbed Alexis in the ankle with it before Jolt shocked you." The black warrior informed dully, no spark or fight left in his words like there usually was. Chloe could only stare at her friends as Optimus knelt down to the weeping Xyleon.

"Alexis, I-" Chloe was choked by a sob; no words were permitted to leaver her mouth in fear of causing another fight, or something similar. "But I don't remember a thing of it!" Chloe exclaimed, suddenly finding her voice. "I screamed then I saw snippets of scenes, memories, pictures, events. I heard catches of conversations saying 'Who are you?' and 'Sir! The test subject has escaped!"

"What else did you see? Or hear?" Ratchet demanded, suddenly and unusually interested in the girl lying in front of him.

"Well, there was blood, lots of blood. A corpse, gunfire shredding someone, a lab with surgeon's tools and a robotic beast with half a face. Plus a torn bunny toy covered in blood," Chloe said shakily as she conjured up the pictures that could well have been from a horror film. She watched Optimus very gently bring Alexis back into a standing position. The Xyleon gave her a smile.

"You're safe here. I'm sorry that we made you see any of that," she said, her voice barely reaching Chloe's ears.

Blood rushed to Chloe's head, jerking her violently back to those horrible images that had first appeared.

'Where is the test subject?'

Another animalistic, guttural roar, threatening to tear all ears apart.

'That thing was made to kill, and kill it shall until it is stopped'

'This isn't right'

'Why won't you love me?'

'I'LL MAKE YOU LOVE ME!'

The voices and pictures stopped and Chloe swam back into reality… but was it reality anymore? She saw twisted images. Ratchet stood over her with his giant saw spinning insanely. Jolt's whips were alive with electricity. Ironhide was petting a cannon with a look of insanity in his optics. Optimus held his sword poised to kill Alexis who glared at her in hatred. Chloe's optics snapped shut again, red blocking her vision.

Then, a chilling voice spoke in her mind.

"YoU ArE LuCkY I HaVe DeCiDeD To SpArE YoU, ChLoE…."

"Who's there?"

"I Am AlL ArOuNd YoU ChLoE… I AM YoU…"

"Show yourself!" Chloe tried to put all her defiance into her voice as she could, but all that came out was a half-hearted shout.

"I Am…. BlAcK ChArAdE…. I Am AfTeR YoUr BoDy… I want tO fEel ThE SuNLiGhT AgAiN…."

"I WANT TO LIVE!" pain seared through Chloe's body and mind, wrenching a guttural scream from her throat once more. The twisted images blotted with blood and Energon as everything faded and what must have been reality flooded her sense. In the distance, she could just barely make out the voices of her friends, especially Alexis', screaming at her. Trying to bring her back to the real world.

"NO!" She screamed again, defying everything. And again, she felt her body changing back to the monster that had hurt her friend. That was made to kill, to kill until it was stopped.

She was becoming Black Charade.

A/N 2: Hi guys, its US, Alexis and Chloe. If anyone has an OC or something named Black Charade, and you think we've stolen it, apologies. We didn't know. Also if anyone has done a story or idea similar to this and you think we've stolen that, apologies again because, once more, we didn't know.