Deadly Sanity

"YOU HAVE STUCK ME TO THE GROUND, GIRL!! How dare you do that!" The male Sith stuck out his tongue at Asteroid and used his Sith Dream Destroy attack.

Asteroid winced and fell to the ground. She had experienced the pain of losing Tuxedo Jedi.

"I will not allow this. How dare you! (enter Sailor Teta's attack). Take this!" cried Sailor Teta.

"Nooooooo! WAYLAND TRANSPORT!" Right before Teta's attack reached him, Sith Knight Wayland disappeared.

Chibi Dathomir had run to her mother as Sailor Teta had chased off the last Sith. She powered down and became Chakra Ramahoshi. "Mama, Mama! Wake up!" Chakra shook her mother's shoulders forcefully.

"Chakra Ramahoshi, stop that. I am fine... Ooof!" Sailor Dathomir powered down and tried to get up. She managed it but was a little wobbly.

"What was that new Sith?" Sailor Hoth had powered down as well and had come over.

"I do not know, Yuki, but he seemed to be afraid of Fon's attacks."

"Nom, next time you want to use a black hole, tell us first, ne?" asked Fon, slightly irritated.

"Fine. Now can we get out of here?"

All the Sailor Jedi split up and headed back to the Temple, but unbeknownst to them, an enemy had seen their true forms. A shadow parted from the wall, and activated the comlink that would allow it to report to its master. "My lord, I have discovered the true forms."

Far off, on another part of the planet, its master heard his minion's report. "Excellent. You will be remembered with honor."

The voice deactivated the link, and started laughing evilly.

Fon sighed. It'd been nearly a week since the battle with the new, even-more-insane-than-Geri Sith, and nobody knew or even had any idea of who he was or how he had gotten there. But, even more maddening was the fact that Koumi had seen Yousei Akki again and had even scared Fon and Nom with his severed head. Koumi had skipped away, laughing mentally at them. Akki was still alive, but Fon had gotten rather upset about that. She didn't have any romantic feelings for the guy, Force forbid, but she liked having a link to the past.

She walked on. She had just been out and about and was heading back to the Temple. As she walked, a shadow detached from a wall, startling her. She whirled around, and nearly bumped right into Yousei Akki's chest.

"Oh! Excuse me!" she said, suprised.

Akki bowed low and held it for a moment before straightening his back. He didn't, Fon noticed, meet her eyes. "No, Your Highness, Excuse me."

Fon immediately, without conscious thought, feel into the old patterns. "Why are you here?" she asked, her accent deepening.

Akki hesitated, then asked, "I do not understand. Why am I here talking to you, or why am I here on Coruscant?"

"Speaking with me. Why?"

"You do not have a Companion. You are supposed to." It wasn't a question.

A sad look passed over Fon's face, almost too quickly to register. "Yes, I know. I do not have one here."

Akki looked scandalized. "Then allow me to be of some assistance and the honor of accompanying you."

Fon mentally sighed. If what she remembered was correct, and some few memories were reemerging, Breke had been one of the few happy-to-be-there attendants. Most of her attendants had only been there for the honor and glory it would give their families, but a few had honestly wanted to assist the Empress and bring glory and honor to her name. That was considered odd on Teta, even now.

She didn't have much of a choice. Either she allowed him to accompany her, and suffered his company, or said no and lowered herself in his eyes. It was a lose-lose situation.

"Yes, you may accompany me."

Akki was secretly thrilled. He had, deep down, always been in love with the Empress. But it had been far too much to even hope that she would ever look his way. But now! He was actually accompanying her! Akki felt as if he could almost float away.

They walked on aimlessly, Fon enjoying the fact that she had found someone from her past, and Akki enjoying being near Fon.

"Have you eaten?"

The non sequitur startled Fon. "Hmm?"

"Have you eaten?"

"Oh. No, I haven't." Fon could almost feel the turmoil of emotions brewing in Akki's mind.

He hesitated, then asked boldly, "May I take you to eat?"

There. He'd done it. Now all that could happen would be that he would be ordered to death. Not that she would do that; she had been a nice Empress, but Empress Aleema had ordered him dipped in molten copper, over and over again. Akki didn't really like that memory, but he lived them all at night. All the deaths, all the humiliations.

Fon thought for a moment. Why not? I am hungry, and he seems to hold me in such high regard that he would not try anything. She replied, "Yes, you may."

Akki couldn't believe it. She'd said YES!!

Fon and Akki had grabbed a cab and made it to a small Corellian eatery without any mishap. Which was, in fact, rather remarkable, considering the time. They ate and left, Fon enjoying herself quite a bit. It was nice to be with a male of her own planet without worrying about romance.

She leaned her head against Akki's shoulder, feeling a little tired. They were walking towards the Jedi Temple on one of the lower levels, and hopefully nobody would bother or accost them. Although, if someone did, she was sure that either Akki or herself as Sailor Teta could handle it. The thought made her smile.

Unfortunately, something did happen. Actually, someone. A shadow slinked out from an alley, and demanded something Fon was NOT going to give. The genetically engineered human looked quite prepared to kill Akki to get what he wanted, too.

"Are you CRAZY? Do you know who this is?" Akki was starting to get angry. This... nerfherder was attempting to make a pass at HIS empress? Who did he think he was? The thought caused a momentary flicker of some feeling, probably of shame and fear for daring to think that Her Imperial Grace was his, but he shoved it away. Feelings only brought the shadowy man.

"You attempt to touch Her Holy Imperial Highness?"

The filthy-looking human leered and tried to shove past Akki to snatch Fon's arm. Fon managed to dodge it.

However, Akki was not going to allow this to happen. He hadn't kept trying to find the Reborn Kshyy just so she could be attacked. Akki lost his temper.

The Gen-Human was a good foot taller than Akki, and much broader as well, and judging by the scars visible, well-versed in the art of street fights. But Akki wasn't the youngest member inducted so far in the Bounty Hunter's Guild for nothing. He had actually met the Great Fett and knew how to fight. The Gen merely smirked as Akki blistered the air with his curses, but the smirk faded as he discovered why Akki had been called "Slick" by one of his former employers.

As large as the Gen was, he knew that if the fight went on much longer, he would be badly beaten. Akki was younger, more wiry, and quicker. A few moments later, the Gen made a quick exit.

Fon stepped out of the small alcove where she had been watching and trying to avoid the fight. Akki escorted her back to the Temple without any conversation.

"Hello Fon! You are rather late, are you not?" Nom raised a well-manicured eyebrow at the lavender-haired girl.

"Good evening, Nom. Yes, I suppose I am rather late. But I found Yousei Akki, and he took me to eat. No, no! Nothing like that." She finished quickly, blushing in response to Nom's highly arched eyebrows. Nom could get a lot out of those eyebrows.

She continued. "But what really suprised me, though, was the fact that Akki showed Dark Arts. No, wait - excuse me. Dark Force potential." She fell silent, still feeling some shock from the power of Akki's barely-contained fury.

Nom thought for a moment, long, tapering fingers playing with one of the energy binders at her belt. Finally she spoke. "For some reason, this brings to mind the Dark Sider Attacks that Boshi, Priire and I had for a short time. I do not, however believe he knows of the potential. It did not sound as if he did."

But Nom and Fon were to find out that this theory was so far wrong that one of the Senshi would suffer for it..........

After he had escorted Her Grace back to the Jedi Temple and made sure that she had entered, he collapsed in a narrow dark alley in one of the much deeper levels. Waiting for the bile to return to his liver, he berated himself. What did I think I was doing? She is the Kshyy, strong and unafraid. If she had required my help, she would have said so, unless... this was a test of loyalty.

As Akki's adrenaline level sunk and he keyed down, he realized someone had entered the alley from the side partially blocked by the wall. Leaping to his feet in a fluid, practiced movement, he hoped that he wouldn't have to fight. The fight with the Gen had taken a lot more that he had let on.

The figure came closer. It looked similar to the Shadow Man, but it also looked remarkably similar to Akki himself, with the same white blond hair, pale skin, and cold, light steel blue eyes. But that is where the obvious similarities ended. Yes, the figure was roughly the same physically, but he was wearing some kind of black uniform, with black well cared for leather knee boots. Akki was suddenly struck with the strange idea that this was all very familiar.

"Well, well. So you finally found Her Grace, the Imperial Tetan Highness. " The figure whistled a low note that throbbed in Akki's ears, and what looked like a glaive appeared.

Akki looked straight into eyes eerily like his own. "Who are you, and what is that?" he whispered, unable to force enough air into it to sound strong, and also terrified of the answer.

The black-clad human, who could have passed for Akki himself, sneered and answered in a half-sarcastic, half-insane voice, "Why, I'm insulted. Don't you recognize me? This is the Annihilation Glaive. I'm you."

It had been only a few weeks, but Emi and Ariel still couldn't figure out who the mysterious Sith at the battle had been. He hadn't shown up since then, but if he did, they wanted to be sure that they would be able to fight him. But they had to find out just who he was first.

Emi ticked off the points they had slowly accumulated on her fingers. "One, he appeared out of nowhere, swinging that Glaive and causing a lot of pain on both sides. Two, he acted crazier than Geri, which is not good, especially if he's on our side. One insane Sith is bad enough." She stopped, and Ariel pulled out a vibroblade and began defacing a small statue of one of the Sailor Jedi. Emi got the point. She continued speaking.

"Three, he looked familiar to both of us. We did do some 'research' on Obra-Skai on Sith Lords for Kendra, because she wanted to know if we had 'allies' that she could use. But I didn't see him, and neither did you. Geri was imitating Yoda when I asked her, so I would suppose she doesn't recognize him."

Ariel interrupted. "Where is Geri? I haven't seen her, and that's a relief. No fish hands or giant lollipops."

Emi did a good imitation of looking slightly sheepish, but it was only an act. Her very appearance was enough to show that she was evil. "I locked her into a closet with a ysalamiri. She should be trying to kill it right about now with 'blocked' Force. " Her eyes took on a look similar to children who take pleasure in torturing small animals, or other small children.

Ariel smiled. "That's nice. What odds that Mistique will find out and blast the closet?"

"Not much. She's off trying to get that crystal. But to the last point. This Sith Knight Wayland recognized us all. Us and the spawn of the Jedi."

Ariel tapped her fingertips on the blaster scarred table, having recarved the small statue into a mocking replica. Emi mentally set it on fire as Ariel thought. Her fingers fell into a thoughtful rhythm as she slowly digested the information. Unlike her coworkers, who quite often attempted to try something without careful thought, she usually thought it out and succeeded.

After a few moments, Emi recognized the rhythm that Ariel was tapping. It sounded quite similar to the newest holo-band, Mind's Eye Blind. Kendra and Geri had tried to drain them of energy for use as youma, but that annoying Chibi Dantooine had blinded them with butterflies, allowing the more powerful Senshi to come assist her. She hid a small smile. She didn't want the Beta Sith to become annoyed, especially since both she and Chibi Dantooine had gotten an autograph first.

"I seem to remember finding a legend of a Sith Knight. He came from some small planet; Teta, Alderaan, or Wayland maybe. He was supposedly very fond of pain and torture." Ariel finished, and shoved wisps of hair out of her eyes.

Emi seemed to remember one of the stories about this one... she thought it was the one of him destroying a planet because they had refused to bow at his arrival..........

Akki scrambled backwards, hitting the slime-encrusted wall hard. He breathed deeply, hoping that all this was just a hallucination. "You can't be me....I'm not insane, not schizophrenic. I'm not even Force-talented." His voice became tinged with hysteria.

The human laughed coldly, enjoying Akki's discomfort. He answered sarcastically, "Gee. I'm hurt. We spent so much time together, before your beloved Empress Teta came to power. Before you so foolishly fell in love with her, I ruled your emotions, your thoughts, your very ideas. But she brought an end to the fighting, and you didn't need me anymore." The human spat near Akki's boot at the thought of the Empress.

Akki winced. He couldn't stand the other human actually insulting the Empress. The robed human continued.

"Once you cast me out, I became solid and wandered the universe. I learned a great deal, I'll thank you for that. But that's all I will thank you for. I met powerful Sith Lords who taught me of this 'Force' that you are very strong in... but only in the proper use of the Dark Side will you be truly powerful. I met politicians whose ambitions were their downfall, pirates who lost their lives for one last run, smugglers who met the Maw and lived to tell of it, and many many Jedi scum. But the Sith were very useful. Although I had to destroy him afterwards, one taught me who I and you really were. I am the side of you that is Sith Knight Wayland, and you are Wayland Knight. But, once I merge with you, and take control, you will never have the chance to be that kind of spineless Jedi. No, with your body, I will truly become what we are supposed to be. I will use your body and your knowledge of this time for my purposes. I will control this universe! But only if you are sane. So, you see, your sanity is deadly to yourself!" His voice took on the quality of one trying to remember how to sound sane, and it frightened Akki. He scrunched his way closer to the mouth of the alley.

The insane Knight noticed and blocked his only avenue of escape with a flick of the wrist. Akki suddenly noticed a sharp G-shaped blade at his throat. The Annihilation Glaive! "You think I'm insane, don't you? In need of some serious work?"

Akki silently blessed the myriad of gods and goddesses he'd heard about on his journeys. He hadn't wanted to be the one to say it. He wasn't sure of what Wayland would do to him if he had said it. Probably something involving a lot of pain and torture. He'd had enough of that, thank you very much, with the Tetan Imperial Court.

Wayland noticed the lack of response from Akki. He smiled. It gave Akki shivers. It was the look of one of the Empresses of Teta before they dipped him into molten copper or unleashed piranha beetles from Yavin IV. "You think you've seen enough? I don't. I'm going to get a response from you one way or another." Wayland lifted the Glaive, barely managing to avoid slitting Akki's throat. He cried out as Wayland whispered a phrase, "Torturing Pain DESTROY!" Wayland swung the Glaive down, nicking Akki's abdomen.

Akki sucked in his stomach just before the blood-red stream shot, with frightening black streaks, him in the stomach. Yousei Akki had never felt such excruciating pain in all his lives. He collapsed to his knees, sucking in the fetid oxygen above the duracrete.

"Now, Yousei Akki, the Evil Sprite, your body, which is mine, will allow me to control the cosmos... I hope you are ready for the after life, since I cannot allow you to live, as you might have some way of destroying me. Goodbye!"

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.................................." Akki's protest trailed off as Wayland became vapor and engulfed his body.

Wayland gave an evil grin. Now, with the knowledge that this body had, he could kidnap two of the Sailor Jedi and hold them hostage. He would control this universe. If not in the next week, then in the next month. He had time. Now, to the Jedi Temple..... He had an evil smirk on his face as he got a taxi.

Chouko sighed. She and Chakra had been chasing Pinku while Nom tried to figure out how to make Tatooine dewback medallions with eol sha fungi sauce. She had melted four durasteel pots and was in a foul mood. Chouko still wasn't sure why Nom had lost her temper, but she understood quite well why Yoda wasn't going to be happy about the four-foot-diameter hole in the ceiling. It was now about midnight Coruscant Standard Time, and Chakra and Nom were in their quarters asleep. Only Chouko and Annika were awake. Annika was aimlessly pouring what remained of the fungi sauce from one melted pot to another and Chouko was doodling on a datapad.

Wayland smiled. He sensed one, no, TWO Sailor Jedi unaware of his presence. This was going to be easy.

Fon turned in her sleep. She kept hearing a voice saying, "Awake! Your people are in trouble!" Suddenly, she shot out of bed and ran into the common room. The Sith Knight from the battle had Annika and Chouko in some kind of stasis and was levitating them out of the complex.

"I don't THINK SO!!! EMPRESS TETA SYSTEM POWER MAKE UP! You have taken my friends, you shall not have them! Empress Teta Space Sword Attack!"

The Sith blocked the attack with one of his own. "Oh? Your Grace, if you want to attack you do it like... this....." He took a deep breath and let loose with a great roar that nearly shattered Fon's eardrums. "TORTURING PAIN DESTROY!!!"

Fon felt the pain hit but ignored it. She stood tall, her body language saying volumes.

"WHAT? YOU DO NOT FALL?! HOW IS THIS???"

She thought mentally, You old fool! "I am a Sailor Jedi, the protector of good and the Empress Teta System! As long as it stands, I stand! You shall not rule the Cosmos without the taking of all systems, and I shall not allow that!"

"Have it your way, Your Holy Imperial Highness. Now, I need to get these two to where I can keep them without your interference!" He bowed low, then rose and aimed the Glaive at her. "Farewell, my Lady! Far-r-e-w-e-l-l!!!"

A blast of gale force wind hit her as he created a bolt hole. Once she was sure he was gone, Fon collapsed, but not before screaming for Kyoko.

Annika woke first, disoriented. She was bound, hand and foot, to a small table. It looked like a surgical table. She managed to turn her head to the left and noticed Chouko trussed up similarly. Before she could say anything, a tall white-blonde-haired human male came in. He was wrapping a bandaged around his hand, which was rather bloody.

Wayland finished wrapping his hand and walked over to Annika. "So, Princess, how do you enjoy your surroundings so far?"

Annika steeled herself, trying for some Priire-style sarcasm. Surprisingly, it came out right. "Well, if this is five-star, I'd hate to see what one star looks like."

Wayland raised an exasperated eyebrow. He hadn't expected that the little one would bite him, or that the white-haired Bakuran princess would be throwing sarcastic remarks at him.

He suddenly heard Akki's voice in the back of his mind. Can't control the ladies, now, can you? I'm not suprised!

"Shut up, you," Wayland muttered under his breath, more to himself than to Annika, but she took on a look of triumph, thinking that she had nettled him.

"Huh...NOM!!!! QUIT THAT!! PINKU'S supposed to be PINK!! NOT ORANGE!!... Hullo. What's this?.......AIIEEEEEE!!! I'M STUCK TO A COLD NASTY OPERATING TABLE!!!!" Chouko burst into tears.

To top it off, Annika began giggling hysterically. Here she was, stuck in the hands of a madman and Sith Knight, and Chouko was upset about the table. That had to be ironic.

Wayland lost it. "WILL YOU PLEASE BE QUIET!! HOW IS A SITH GOING TO BE ABLE TO PLAN THE TAKE OVER OF THE COSMOS WITH A PAIR OF HYSTERICAL FEMALES?!"

The two girls quieted, but Annika was hiccuping because of her giggles. She held her breath, hoping that she wouldn't hiccup.

Wayland left. Annika let out the breath. Wayland returned. Annika hiccuped. "STOP THAT NOISE!!" Wayland sighed. He'd never liked females. "I'm going to release you."

Annika held her breath.

"I'm not, however, stupid enough to let you have free rein around here. You will stay in this room, which I have prepared especially for you two. I do not think that you will be tortured. You might be caused pain, but it shall be kept to a minimum. The only reason you are here is so that I can avoid the rest of you. I need time and quiet to plan the takeover of the Cosmos. You will be fed. You might not like it, but it will food. If this arrangement is not suitable, I can find other, less polite arrangements. Is this understood?"

Annika let out her breath.

She and Chouko replied through gritted teeth, "Yes. That is CRYSTAL clear." What both of them did not say out loud was, "Just because it's clear doesn't mean we won't try to escape!"

"Good. I'll see about your food in about an hour."

As the door slid shut behind Wayland, the restraints fell off of Annika and Chouko. Chouko sat up, feeling rather irritated. "Why'd he have to choose us?"

"Who knows? I just want to know what we're going to be eating. If Kyoko and Fon don't find us, we are going to be two hungry T'landa Til."

A few hours passed. Chouko figured out it was about nine in the morning CST. Wayland had come in with some food: flatbread, gukked egg, and Bakuran nanama fruit juice. Annika was pleased about the last item. A few more hours passed, and the door slid open. Annika dropped the hair pin she was using to try and pick the lock with. Surpisingly, Wayland had a glassy look on his face.

"Why-"

"Please, I'm not sure I can keep Wayland from noticing what my body is doing for very long. You must leave now. Here."

He shoved the piece of flimsiplast at her. Annika stared at it. Chouko sighed, exasperated. Then she reached over and turned it right side up.

"My name is Yousei Akki. I was alive when the Empress Teta unified her system. Sailor Teta is the reincarnation of her. Protect her. And... please, tell her that Wayland will not stop until she is dead and he controls the Cosmos. I must go." Akki left, hoping that Wayland would not find out about this before they got away. He knew, deep in the corner of his brain, that was still Yousei Akki, that he would suffer for this. But he did not regret it.

With only a map to guide them, Chouko managed to find the way out, the way back to the Temple and safely away from Sith Knight Wayland. Annika told Fon what Akki had said, and her face grew hard and regal.

"Take over the Cosmos? Will not stop until I am dead? Well, then. He is going to have to wait until Hoth melts then. I will fight him until the last of my breath is gone."