I do not own Transformers. They belong to Hasbro (c). Mercury and my other ocs belong to me.

Gather round friends and let us tell you a tale...

Once upon a time, long ago, there was a tiny kingdom. It was peaceful, rich in tradition and prospered greatly. A widowed gentlemech lived there with his only child, his daughter Mercury. He adored his daughter and gave her every luxury and comfort, though she was happiest when given the opportunity to help others. She was as lovely inside as she was out. He still wanted to give her a mother to love and cherish here. So he bonded again to femme of good family called Darklight. She herself had two daughter just Mercury's age. At first all went well. Unfortunately, almost two years after this, the kindly gentlemech grew ill, and died. Mercury was sparkbroken but had promised her father that she, her stepmother and stepsisters would stay together as a family. Her father had left her a large inheritance and had left the rest of his fortune to Darklight and the stepsisters. However this brought out the stepmother's true nature. Extremely jealous of Mercury's beauty and charm. She stole Mercury's inheritance and squandered it on her own two snobbish daughters, leaving Merucry without a credit to her name.

The family home started to fall in disrepair giving it a sense of gloom. It no longer resemble the happy home it one was. Mercury was constantly abused, bullied and then forced to be a servant in her own home. She did all the chores and cooking, and attended to the stepsisters every requested. Darklight threw her out of her room and into the attic. It got very cold on certain nights. So on those nights she'd recharge on the floor near the fire. The cinders would fly and her face would get smudged and scuffed. Still, even though she was treated poorly Mercury stayed kind and giving, and prayed that one day her dreams of happiness would come true. And here our story begins...

The clocktower at the Royal Palace rang out the hour. It was early in the morning and Mercury was sleeping in her attic room. Some songbirds were singing on a branch outside her window. A beautiful tree she had planted near her true mother's grave, back when she was small and her loving mother had passed away. The song of the birds woke Mercury from her recharge and her dream. She stretched and sat up. "Ah, that was such a lovely dream. I'm sorry it had to end. Oh well..." She got out of her berth and washed her face in a small basin. Her plating was the purest white, asides from the palest blue on her helm. However it was hard to tell underneath the dirt and cinders. Not that Mercury cared, she didn't think too much on her appearance. She never had time.

Mercury got ready and rushed downstairs to get breakfast ready. She got it simmering on the stove and went to feed the family's animals. The mare Dowager and the dog Prince. They and the songbirds were her only friends. But she cherished them all the same. Dowager whinnied at her from her stall when Mercury went out to feed her. "Good morning Dowager. I hope you slept well. Dowager nodded as if to say yes. "Good." Mercury replied and poured her food into her trough. "I'll see you later Dowager." said Mercury, giving her a gentle pat before getting Prince's food.

The family dog yipped happily at her, licking her hand. "Morning Prince. You seem happy." She put the food into Prince's bowl. The dog barked wanting her to play with him. "I'm sorry I can't play right now. I have too many chores. But if I get a chance we'll play. That work for you?" Prince barked happily. Mercury smiled. Then she ran inside to finish breakfast.

RING! RING! "MERCURY!" her stepfamily yelled.

"I'm coming!" Mercury called back. Most likely they were awake and demanding breakfast. Mercury tried to pick up the pace but the yelling continued.

"Where is our breakfast you useless thing?!" Her stepmother yelled. "Get it out soon or else!"

"Yes stepmother." sighed Mercury.

Darklight glared at her stepdaughter. "Hurry. We must go to the village today and we'll need someone to carry our bags."

~3~

"Hurry Hound or we'll get caught!"

The Prince was wearing a peasants cloak loaned to him by his friend Hound. His name was Mirage. At this moment he was trying to sneak out of the palace. He wanted to be free of being treated as a prince for awhile so his loyal friend Hound helped him climb out a low window. "Hurry. I don't know how long Huffer can keep everyone distracted. I barely got him to cover for us this time." said Hound as he lowered the prince down.

"I know Hound I know. But I can't stay cooped up in the Palace all day." the prince said as he hit the ground. Hound dropped down soon after him. "Now let's get out through the servant's entrance." The two mechs ran out the servant's gate and escaped into town. For you see, Mirage did not like all of his life as a prince. While he lived in a fine palace, would inherit the throne and many femmes kept gushing over him he was not completely happy. He felt everything about his life was chosen for him. It seemed like he had no choice. So he would often sneak out of the palace in disguise with Hound's help to get a small break. This was such a time.

Hound sighed. "I'm really worried that one day your creators will find out about this Raj. We could all get into big trouble."

"We'll be fine Hound. No one's noticed it yet. No one in the village ever recognizes me." Mirage tried to calm his friend. "Mother and Father will never know as long as we get back before lunch."

Hound rolled his optics. "Fine."

Nearby Mercury was with her stepfamily. She was carrying their boxes and bags which were full of the lovely things they were buying, for themselves. They never got Mercury anything nice, even when she asked for it. If she did, they'd laugh and tell her to remember her place. Outside one shop her stepsisters, Tigerlily and Silverscape, were arguing over a necklace. "It looks best on me!" cried Tigelily.

"No you're too plain for it! It looks better on me!" yelled Silverscape

"Girls stop!" snarled Darklight. "You're making a scene!"

"Well who does it look better on mother? Me or Tigerlily?"

"How could a mother choose between two such beautiful daughters?" Though really Darklight just didn't want another argument. She went inside and the two sisters kept right on squabbling.

Mercury sighed watching them. Those two were always fighting over trivial things and never focused on what was really important, like kindness and courtesy. She leaned against a wall waiting to be called again. She looked around at the other bots. They seems quite happy. She saw happy families and joyful couples. Mercury felt very left out. "If only you and mother were still here Father." She thought to herself. She sighed before sees a bot in a ragged cloak narrowly miss getting run over by a carriage and dropping all his things. "Gracious!" she cried and ran over to him. She began picking up his things.

When he lifted his head and she saw he had a blue visor so she couldn't see his optics. His face was white and he had a black helm. "Thank ya little lady." he said in a voice with a heavy accent, what kind of accent she couldn't figure out. He got the rest of his things and she handed back what she had caught. "That's very sweet of ya."

Mercury smiled. "It's alright. I'm glad you didn't get run over by that carriage. I'm sorry about that."

"It ain't your fault. Thanks for helping me. Not everyone is as kind as you." the stranger said smiling.

Mercury picked up her own things. "It's fine I-" she stopped talking as the stranger had suddenly vanished. "Where did he go?" she wondered aloud.

"Mercury!" Darklight yelled coming out of the shop.

Mercury ran back over. "Yes stepmother?"

"Take these." Darklight ordered before shoving some boxes on top of Mercury's load. Then she and her daughters started walking ahead.

Tigerlily sneered. "Did you ever see such a lazy femme in your life?"

Silverscape glared. "Who are you calling lazy?"

"Not you stupid. Mercury."

"Oh. Did you just call me stupid?!" Another argument started as they headed home.

When they got home Mercury had to get the door and let the others in first. Little did she know someone was watching, the stranger from before. He was perched in the tree near her mother's grave. He glared at her stepfamily. He did not like to see bots treating other bots poorly. Especially someone as kind as Mercury. He jumped down from the tree and stared down at the grave. "Don't worry Moonlily. I'll get your little femme outta there. I swear or I ain't the Jazzman." He promised before vanishing once again.

To be continued...

AN: You will see Jazz's role later though some of you might be able to guess it. His involvement was at the suggestion of a friend. Also sorry everyone for my poor writing of his character. I do not know how to write his accent and the way he talks is difficult for me. I'll try to do better.