Title: Obsession
Author: wicked3659
Prompt: Endless Fascination
Rating: pg13
Verse: G1 (AU sort of)
Pairing: Elita 1/ Arcee
Words: 2201
Other Characters: Ultra Magnus, Chromia
Warnings: inferred stalker behaviour
Summary: Nobody would believe that she had watched her from afar, the menace that lay beneath that sweet natured femme. Elita knew and finally enough was enough, little did she know what an enemy she was creating.
Endless Fascination
Elita 1/Arcee
****
The way she moved was alluring. Her voice was like a melody in her audio, it never mattered what she said, especially if she said it to her. The way her optics brightened when she was giving orders or displaying her rare temper, was like igniting a fire in her spark. Arcee couldn't get enough. She watched and waited, her spark pulsed with raging jealousy whenever Elita showed interest in anyone. When that interest was returned, Arcee felt like the fire of Unicron was burning inside her.
She knew her obsession would be frowned upon, she would be assigned as far away from the commanding femme as possible if anyone ever found out, but the risks didn't stop her from watching, taking in every detail, absorbing every mundane routine of the object of her affections. Elita would notice, she would see exactly what she'd been missing. Arcee just needed a little time, needed a chance to get her away from those leeching mechs that threw themselves at her.
They would never be good enough for her, never be worthy of her Elita. One day the femme would realise, she would see. They could leave it all behind, escape somewhere far from the war, far from Cybertron, together. Away from Prime, away from Magnus. Away from all of them, none of them mattered, only Elita.
Arcee jolted suddenly from her daydream when her arm was knocked. Glaring up at the other femme she scowled back at her console. "What do you want Chromia?"
"I've been calling you over comm. Where have you been?"
"I've been here." Arcee replied, replacing her scowl with her signature sweet smile. Chromia was too shallow to pry further, everyone trusted Arcee, took her sweet natured demeanour for granted. She despised all of them, their war, their ideals. All she'd ever wanted was that dusty pink chassis of a femme.
Chromia huffed lightly. "Well shift is over, Elita wants to see you."
"Oh?" Arcee felt her spark pulse quicken. "Did she say why?"
Shrugging and replacing Arcee in the console chair, Chromia shook her helm. "Some reports I think, she didn't really embellish."
Arcee smirked to herself, it had to be the reports she'd deliberately handed in unfinished and not up to standard. Elita was a stickler for standards, determined to maintain order while Prime was absent from Cybertron. It was something that she'd always call a 'bot on and that was exactly what Arcee had been counting on.
****
Elita sighed as he thumb ran over the reports, mentally chastising herself to maintain her cool, keep a level head. It's not like the femme would try anything but being in her vicinity simply made her uncomfortable. Arcee hadn't always made her feel this way, it was only since Prime had left that she'd changed.
It had been that explosion they had been caught in. Arcee had been directly in the blast zone and Elita had tackled her to the ground, shielding them both from the blast, luckily rushing her had knocked them both just outside of the main blast radius, so while they'd been injured, they had been lucky. Arcee had been exceedingly grateful to Elita for saving her life, which Elita had thought nothing of, at first. The femme had left her energon goodies and gifts at random, would change her shift to be in her presence, she went out of her way to do anything to help Elita's command easier.
Elita had been grateful, flattered by the attention and Arcee was a reliable and trusting friend. She could confide in her, share her thoughts with her, spend time with her without having the conversation turning towards their missing mechs. Chromia and Moonracer, always wanted to know how she felt about Prime, if she was coping, if she missed him or was ready to move on. It was not something Elita wanted to discuss and with Arcee, it never came up. The femme always focused on her, went out of her way to make her feel comfortable. There had only been one tense moment between them, a rare indulgence in high grade had led to a kiss. One that Elita had shrugged off as an over charged mistake and she'd thought Arcee had done the same. She'd certainly laughed it off at the time. Little did she know that it triggered a further infatuation. The sugary pink and white femme had started paying her too much attention, until Elita had said in no uncertain terms that they were friends.
She had wanted to preserve their friendship, she'd never meant to lead Arcee on and much to Elita's relief, Arcee seemed to take the let down in her stride, sure she'd been disappointed but she'd assured Elita that there had been no hard feelings.
When Prime had returned, however, Arcee changed. Elita knew nobody else saw it, the changes were too subtle and Arcee was far too sweet and seemingly innocent for anyone to be suspicious of but Elita knew better. She'd noticed the dark glares at Ultra Magnus when he was trying to speak to her, the glower whenever Prime was mentioned. No one else knew of the private anonymous comm messages left for her, the anonymous gifts left in her office, her quarters, her private transport. Elita knew, yet there was nothing she could say or do, she had no proof.
It had been innocent at first, Elita thought, just a crush stemming from saving her life and a few badly thought out moments but when she'd changed her locking codes to her quarters and her office and was heard complaining about the anonymous admirer to Moonracer, the nature of the gifts and affections changed. Arcee always watched her if they were in the same room, Elita tried her best to avoid her glances, her smiles, she didn't want to lead the femme on in anyway but it didn't help.
The comm messages continued, some sweet, others lurid and creepy, a small few had been threatening and had filled the femme commander with a sickening dread. The worse ones always happened whenever Ultra Magnus had returned from a mission, or Prime had been in contact. Elita had no proof it was Arcee but from the looks, the cryptic things she said in passing, clued her in, it got to the point where Elita was paranoid about everything the femme did. Having her alone in her office was the last thing she wanted.
****
The door pinged. Arcee waited impatiently outside her office, excitement bubbled in her spark. That soft voice called her to enter and inhaling deeply she stepped inside.
"Elita, I..."
"Arcee."
The pink and white femme snapped her mouth shut at the terse tone from her commander.
"This sort of shoddy work, I will not stand for, do I make myself clear?"
"Of course, Elita. I've just been so busy with shift duty recently, I didn't mean to--"
"--Don't." Elita shook her helm and sighed heavily. Standing she glared at Arcee who stared back with wide, bright optics. "Just don't. That innocent act you've got going, isn't going to work anymore. You have to stop this."
"I don't know what you mean."
"You know exactly what I mean. The messages, the creeping in my quarters, leaving me gifts, threatening me? Where did you think that would get you?"
Arcee ducked her helm, optics staring at the floor, spark pulsing hard in her chest. "I just wanted you to notice me, make you change your mind..."
Elita off lined her optics for a moment. "That's all well and good but I've already told you, I'm not interested. I wanted to stay friends but you're making it impossible. I'm afraid I have no choice. These are your new orders." She held out a data pad, which the femme took hesitantly.
"You are to report to Ultra Magnus in two cycles. You've been reassigned to his base. You leave immediately."
Arcee stared at the data pad, fingers curling about it tightly until the fragile screen cracked. "Don't do this to me Elita." Her normally smooth, unassuming voice was low, dark, laced with something Elita couldn't place, but she'd had enough.
"No Arcee. No more threats. This ends now. If we didn't need every spark to help us in the war I would have reported your actions to Prime and had you committed to a medic. You must see that this behaviour is erratic, it's not normal."
"You have no proof."
"At this point I don't need any. You're not that good an actress Arcee. Take the new assignment, before you really do something stupid."
Arcee watched as the femme headed back to her seat and returned her attentions to her data pads. How dare she. Elita was in far deeper than she thought and she was much more naive than Arcee had pegged her if she thought that she'd give up so easily. "You're making a mistake."
Elita regarded her coldly. "No, the only mistake I made was believing we could be friends. You're dismissed."
Arcee bristled and hurled the data pad at the wall behind Elita's head causing the femme to wince and yelp as shards flew towards her. "I thought all you needed was time. I see I was mistaken."
Elita was filled with dread at the manic laughter coming from the femme. "Arcee calm yourself!"
"Oh I'm perfectly calm. It's such a shame, that you're certifiably insane." Arcee put on her most sympathetic tone as she headed for the door. "Such a shame." She smirked darkly at the shocked femme and exited without another word.
Staring after her, Elita wondered just how she'd missed all the signs. Something was definitely wrong. She comm'd their medic and left them a message stating her claim. She even listed the security camera code of her office as evidence. This was all the proof she'd ever needed. Now at least, Arcee would get the help she was sorely in need of.
****
Elita was awoken from her recharge with a jolt. Strong arms grabbing her telling her not to do anything rash. "What, what's going on!?" She struggled against her assailants, only for another to join them as she was dragged from her quarters. Two medics were waiting for her. "What's the meaning of this? Unhand me this instant!"
"Afraid we can't do that 'Lita."
She stared up at the familiar commanding tone. "Ultra, what's going on?"
He sighed softly and handed her over to the medic, fastening her wrists securely in stasis cuffs. "I wish we'd known sooner. I'm sorry, Elita. I have no choice."
"I don't understand."
Arcee stepped forward, her light coloured frame, dented and scratched, energon staining her recently patched wounds. "I don't blame you, Elita. It's the strain of the command. I knew you hadn't been right since Prime." Her optics glassed over as energon tears brimmed and slipped down her cheeks. She turned into Ultra Magnus who wrapped a protective arm about her. "Please go easy with her, I know she didn't mean to hurt me."
"Hurt you? HURT YOU?!" Elita's anger got the better of her and she renewed the struggle against the insistent medics, dragging her away. "You did this! You framed me, she's mad! Ultra you have to believe me, she's been infatuated with me for cycles, stalking me. She's doing this because I threatened to tell Prime... because I ordered her transfer. You have to believe me!!"
Ultra's optics flickered with an untold sadness. "Elita, look at yourself, you have energon all over you, it's in your office... we have evidence, the vid file that you sent..."
Arcee turned back, her deceptively innocent face, adorned with a sadness Elita knew was false. "It's like she wanted to be caught. A cry for help."
Ultra only nodded in agreement as Elita felt her spark sinking. Her optics drifted over her own frame, her processor whirling at how the femme had managed to do all of this. The energon delivered to her quarters. She had to have spiked it, drugged her, forged the security feed. She couldn't believe this was happening.
"Ultra please...!! Help me... she's mad... I swear it!" She hollered down the corridor as they followed behind with similarly grim expressions.
"It's such a shame." Arcee whispered softly, curling tightly into the mech's embrace. "I'll always be here for you Elita, I'll help you through this. No matter how long it takes."
Elita could only stare in horror as she was led to the medical facility and placed in a secure room, there was a small window in the door and she threw herself angrily at it, ordering them to release her. Familiar optics filled the view on the other side and Elita stared with hatred at the femme smiling sweetly back at her.
"I'm going to take good care of you, 'Lita." The femme cooed softly.
Elita backed away from the door in horror, that soft laugh haunting her audios, she shook her helm in disbelief. This couldn't really be happening. "You'll not get away with this."
"Oh sweet spark." Came that sickly sweet voice. "I already have."
****