TFP - Freezing Absence

8. Curious

"Daddy!" ScatterFlare burst into the room behind Soundwave, all screens lit up as the vehicons worked tirelessly for new leads on the Autobots or resources. Some were already dispatched at a mine, but they still worked to find more. After all, the Nemesis didn't run magic.

Megatron suppressed a groan, trying to ignore the sparkling as she ran towards him. Her coloring was as bright as her mood, and no matter how long she'd been with him, he couldn't help but think of how she stuck out terribly in a place this bleak.

Flare just didn't belong here.

"Daddy did you miss me?" Flare asked, her helm tilting to the side as she stopped in front of him, a smile crossing her faceplate. "I missed you so much! Soundwave has been teaching me so much! I'm doing so much better in training, I might be able to fight you soon! I might even win!"

"Stop telling lies, ScatterFlare," he growled in a low tone, keeping his voice soft enough that others wouldn't hear.

Her smile faltered, her helm tilting to the other side. "I'm not lying, Daddy. I would never lie to you."

Megatron resisted the urge to strike her for using that damned term, but it wouldn't change anything. "Soundwave isn't training you anymore, Flare," he told her, denta grinding as he tried to keep his voice low. "That makes it a lie."

"Of course he's still training me," she answered softly, happiness still in her tone as she smiled up at him, though not as broad as before. "Just ask him."

Megatron shook his helm, venting heavily. "Stop it, Scatter," he murmured, feeling like he would go insane if his daughter wouldn't leave him be.

'Daughter.'

Primus damn that word and the way it taunted him. Primus damn the way it tore at his spark every time he remembered the human's term for a female sparkling. Primus damn Flare for introducing him to that word. Primus damn the way he could not escape his sparkling, even when he was busy.

Why was she like this? Why wouldn't she just leave him be?

"Oh . . . Okay, Daddy . . ." Turning towards the screens like her father, Flare watched silently as the droids worked, small hands gripping the edge of the platform as she sat down.

Soundwave glanced over at them occasionally, and Megatron met him with a nod, while Flare gave him a smile. Her mentor would pause for only a moment longer before returning to his work. Flare swung her legs back and forth as she turned her attention back to the menial work the drones performed, trying to learn whatever she could, even though most of it was data analysis and there really wasn't much to learn.

Flare sat frozen for a moment staring into the distance before turning her helm back to her sire. "Daddy, who's the big red and blue Cybertronian at the mine?"

It was a second later that the screen showed an unrecognized signal at the mine they were monitoring. Megatron paused, staring at the screen, slowly turning his helm to look down at Flare. "How did you know about that?"

Flare shrugged, resuming the swinging of her legs. "I dunno. I just did." Another signal joined the first, and Megatron ordered a ground bridge to hold off the invaders.

On the other side, Megatron was faced with Optimus Prime, and Bumblebee. "Back again, Prime? What makes you think this will end any differently than any other encounter?"

"Megatron," the Prime answered with equal contempt.

"You're outnumbered, Optimus. I suggest you flee while you can."

But the Autobots were desperate for energon, or they'd never risk this encounter. Their supply was dangerously low.

"Daddy?" Flare asked quietly. "Who are they? They look like us."

Megatron's helm jerked around, and his red eyes widened when he realized his sparkling had followed him through the ground bridge. Resisting the urge to yell at her, Megatron turned back to the Autobots, venting heavily.

"This is not a peace offering, Optimus. This is a pitiful gift. Losing you to energon deprivation is hardly as fun as taking your spark myself." Megatron ground his denta yet again, turning towards Flare, motioning with his chin for her to return through the bridge before ordering his troops to leave with him, leaving the energon behind.

Flare looked up at him curiously before following his order and returning through the bridge. Even though she'd known it could've earned her a steady strike from her sire. Yet she'd followed, curiosity and desperation urging her forward. Who were these Cybertronians she'd never met? They looked so familiar.

~~~

It wasn't until she returned to her quarters that night that she realized that red and blue mech was the one she'd seen offlining her sire. He was the one shoving his blade through her sire's spark. Flare paused, studying the crude drawing carefully, wondering why they were fighting. They definitely didn't seem friendly towards each other, but to fight to the death . . . ?

~~~

"Daddy?" Flare asked carefully.

Megatron was sitting on his cot, and refused to look up from the floor, even though her silent entrance had startled him. "What do you want, Flare? Why are you here?"

"Because I'm worried about you," she whispered. "You don't seem right. And I'm scared I'm gonna lose you."

Megatron laughed harshly, though it was short-lived. "You're afraid to lose me?" The words seemed ridiculous, really. Still, he didn't look at her as he shook his helm in disbelief. "Primus cursed me with the Pits, with giving the title of Prime to another, and now he taunts me with my own sparkling. What a cruel mech."

"Daddy why are you so upset?" Flare asked quietly, her optics conveying her deep concern for him.

"You shouldn't be here," Megatron muttered, holding his helm in his hands. "What the Pit is wrong with you? Why are you here!"

Flare looked down, then back up. "I . . . I wanted to see you. I'm scared you'll get hurt."

"I'm not the one who's been hurt," he muttered. "And this ship is no place for a young femme. You do not belong here."

"I belong wherever you are, Daddy," she answered, her voice barely audible.

"No, you don't." Shaking his helm slowly, Megatron vented, feeling like the world was resting on his shoulders. "You shouldn't be here, Flare."

"Of course I should-," she tried arguing, but it was no use.

"You should not be here!" Megatron shouted, losing his temper.

"I . . . I'm sorry, Daddy," she whimpered, looking down at the floor, her father still refusing to look up from it. "But I can't leave you . . . I just . . . Can't."

Megatron shuttered his optics, wishing terribly that this wasn't happening. Flare was driving him insane. The silence extended for a while, and Megatron thought she'd returned to her quarters, until the words "I love you, Daddy," hit his audio receptors.

When he looked up, she was already gone, and Megatron vented slowly, trying to forget the day and oddity that was his sparkling.