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She screamed. It wasn't anger or hatred... nothing quite so mundane. It was pain. She cursed the Jedi with whom she'd had the misfortune to fall in love. And she cursed his fiancée, now dead. The woman screamed again.
Two children... too much hassle. She considered their lives for a moment, then shook her head. No. She would not be weighed down by infants! The woman walked off, leaving them there in the alley to die...
~*~*~*~*~
Mistique scowled at herself in the mirror. Twins. Children. Her children. She grabbed a bottle of perfume and threw it at the mirror, shattering both items.
She ran her fingers through her hair and pondered what to do with this new information. It had been so long ago. She was only nineteen at the time... the Sailor Sith shook her head. This was not acceptable.
Concentrating, Mistique formed her beautiful red hair into a complex French braid. There. Now, she was going to find the two brats before anyone else did.
~*~*~*~*~
A flame-haired girl kicked the downed man in front of her. Fool. Thinking he could get the better of her. She knelt down beside him and laughed. "Don't try that again. It could get you killed."
The girl put her blaster to his head and pulled the trigger. Then she stood and brushed the dust off her pants. Her victim had been a minor Sith. No one to really worry about.
She ran fingers through her beautiful hair as she walked off. It had been a long time since she'd done anything nice with her hair. It had been a long time since she even cared.
Her life was one of survival and very little else. No one knew where she came from, not even the gypsies who had taken her in as a baby. They didn't have much to give her, and she learned to take what she wanted. When the flame-haired girl was around, no farm or house was safe from her thieving fingers. Now she found herself in the same occupation in a different place.
The girl glanced behind her. It seemed like someone was following her. Her hand snaked toward her ready blaster. She didn't need it, of course. She had an incredible and unbelievable fighting style. Gravity and the laws of physics were nothing to her.
She jumped slightly as she felt a hand on her shoulder. When she turned, no one was there. The girl called out a challenge and was answered. "What are you?" she demanded.
I'm dead and here to torment you for killing me! the being growled. You just killed me... and I want revenge!
The girl rolled her eyes. "Whatever."
You don't believe me, the blue outline of the man accused. Maybe if I tell you something about yourself you will.
She growled. "Buzz off. There isn't anything to know about me."
Sure there is... Tammy.
A frown crossed her beautiful face. It took all of her willpower not to let the being see her annoyance.
Or is it Cammy? I never could tell twins apart.
"Give me a break," Tammy snarled at him. "I don't have any family."
The outline shrugged. Your father is dead, that's for sure. Your mother killed him. Just after she got pregnant with you and your sister. He laughed at her. Oh, but you didn't know, poor baby.
"I hate guessing games," Tammy growled at him. "What do you mean?" She was now interested in what this dead Sith had to say.
He opened his mouth to taunt her more, but he was silenced by a new figure. Almost translucent, a large pegasus appeared behind the man. As if pronouncing a sentence upon him, the silvery animal spoke.
It is not for her knowledge
To include that of which you tell!
Be silenced! Things must come about
In such a way to turn out well!
Tammy raised an eyebrow as the pegasus reared up. As his hooves slammed to the ground, the other being screamed wordlessly and disappeared. The animal then turned to Tammy.
Forgive me, lady,
But this you cannot know.
You must find it on your own
That is the way it must go.
The girl cursed. "Who are you?"
In lilting verse, the being explained he had been sent on a special mission by a certain Jedi. He had been the only one who could perform the duty. Tammy took that to mean he was the only one who could silence the Sith. As the silver-winged animal trotted off, Tammy swore that she was going to find this "twin" of hers.
And then kill her.
~*~*~*~*~
Searching through all kinds of records, Mistique finally found the ones she wanted. First, she found the death certificate for the Jedi. That was easy. Next... she started a search for birth records.
Mistique knew that the two children had to have been born in the Milky Way Galaxy. Cammy believed that she was the sister of Josephine Versailles, a French-born Sailor Jedi. To find out how old the children were and where they were, Mistique sent Emi to Earth. Emi was to find any records of the children.
When the Sith returned, Mistique smiled. Emi had found one of the children - Cammy. Geri, searching Coruscant records, had found the other child - Tammy - in a series of police reports. Tammy was last reported to be on an Outer Rim planet notorious for lowlifes. The report was recent, so chances were good the girl was still there.
Perfect.
~*~*~*~*~
"Tammy?"
The redhead turned on the pretty woman who had walked up to her. "What do you want?" she growled. The other woman had red hair, just like hers, and Tammy was instantly jealous of the intricate styling.
"My name is... well." The woman's yellow eyes narrowed. "Perhaps we should do this in private."
Tammy nodded, interested. "We can go to..."
"I have a ship here," the other woman continued. "We would go there."
Agreeing, Tammy cautiously followed the older woman.
"My name," the woman said, speaking quickly, "is Mistique."
"Tammy."
Mistique smiled slightly. "I know. I've been looking for you... daughter."
Tammy stood up and glared at the other woman. "What?"
"I am your mother," Mistique said slowly. "And I've been looking for you."
Years of lying and thieving had prepared Tammy. She said nothing, appearing to be considering Mistique's words. The pair passed a dark alley, which Tammy slipped into. Mistique froze, morphing her eyes into cat's eyes so she could pierce the darkness. It gave her the barest moment of warning before Tammy attacked.
Mistique's breath left her in a huff. She cursed to herself; she should have seen this coming! The redheaded Sith was, however, quick to defend herself. She pinned Tammy to the opposite wall and morphed her teeth into fangs. "Don't try that, girl," Mistique threatened. "I'm more powerful than you are."
Tammy could do nothing except cease struggling and vow that Mistique would not get the better of her again.
~*~*~*~*~
A cat paused in her walk to stare in amazement down an alley. Two human children were lying amid the rubbish and filth. Naniki abandoned her travels - she had been going to see her cousin Solai - to help the two children.
There wasn't much she could do for them in the alley except clean some of the mess off of them. Promising the redhead that she would be back, Naniki gathered up the child with orange hair and dashed toward the one place she knew could take care of the baby. The Palace of Versailles. There was a family there who would take in the youngster and raise her well.
When she went back for the redhead, the baby was gone. Naniki searched high and low for the baby. From the trail she found, the little one had evidentially crawled into the sewer. What had happened from there, the cat didn't know. She moaned at the babe's misfortune but could do nothing. Instead, she went back to the Palace to help with the orange-haired baby she had saved....
~*~*~*~*~
Cammy gasped and almost fell off the window ledge. She'd been meditating and suddenly this dream had some to her. It couldn't be true, she told herself. No. She was Josephine's sister, not some alley waif.
Or was she?
The girl flipped her orange ponytails over her shoulders and slipped back into the room. Oola had been begging for days to get Cammy to let her put Cammy's odangoed hair into some different style. Maybe now was a good time. Cammy grinned. She could talk to Oola.
Oola happily agreed to listen as she played with Cammy's hair. The beautiful dancer had an armload of ribbons and bows - stolen from Annika's room - as she started to work.
"I had this weird vision..." Cammy started. She told Oola all about the cat and the two children. "I want to know if it really is real," Cammy sighed. "But I don't know how."
"Easy," Oola said through a mouth full of bobby pins. "Ask Solai if he has a cousin." The Twi'lek reached down for a blue ribbon. "Riko! Bring that back!"
The little fox giggled as she disappeared. Oola sighed and grabbed another ribbon. "But, like I said. It should be easy. If Solai doesn't have a cousin named..."
"Naniki," Cammy supplied.
"Right, Naniki! If he doesn't, then it was just something you ate."
Cammy thanked her and went to find Solai.
~*~*~*~*~
"This is where she lives?" Tammy growled, looking at the beautiful Temple. She and Mistique had formed an alliance of sorts. Tammy had been told that Mistique also wanted to get rid of Cammy. Their alliance was based on mutual dislike.
Mistique nodded. She had convinced Tammy to ally with her so they could destroy Cammy. "But right now she's in that building." Mistique pointed. "Several of the Sailors are staying there because of an over population of a type of insect. Fire ants."
"Convenient." Tammy smiled.
Mistique echoed her smile. "I think so."
~*~*~*~*~
"Hey baby. Nice hair," Solai commented as he stared at Cammy from his upside down position on the couch.
Cammy blushed. She'd forgotten to see what her hair looked like! Checking in a mirror, she grinned. Oola had left Cammy's hair up in odango but had braided her ponytails into interlocking braids tied with ribbons. Cammy laughed. "Thanks, Solai. Hey... have you got a cousin?"
The cat stretched out one paw to tease one of Cammy's ribbons. "Beautiful, I've got a slew of em. Why?" He looked suspicious. "You ain't gonna do some kinda family reunion thang, are ya?"
She shook her head. "No... I just had a weird dream. It involved a cat named Naniki."
Solai's eyes widened. "Nani?"
"What?"
"Huh?"
It took them a minute. "Oh, Naniki's nickname was 'Nani'. The gal had a talent fer bringing home stray things. Junk, pets, people... she was even a veggie. Think of that!" The tabby shook his head. "So every time she'd tell us she found somethin' new, we'd say 'nani?'" The cat thought that was funny and began laughing.
Cammy was too stunned to comment. Solai realized this after a minute and pushed his head under her hand. "Beautiful, if you get any paler, yer gonna fade into the wall."
She shook her head. "Did... Naniki ever bring home babies?"
Solai frowned and thought. "Well...not to us. She took one to some Palace once. Why? Something wrong?"
The girl shook her head and ran out of the room.
"Yeah. Nothing wrong my foot." He jumped off the couch and went to search for Josephine or Priire. Or anyone who could help.
~*~*~*~*~
"A twin sister..." Cammy sighed. "A mom who abandoned me... and a new family who loves me." She frowned. "I wish I knew her."
She closed her eyes and let the wind blow her braided hair around. Delving into the Force, she desperately sought peace. Something seemed to stand in her way, however.
Cammy jumped sky high as a hand touched her shoulder. "Who..." she started to ask, turning on the person who had touched her. She gasped, instantly recognizing the red-framed face.
"My name is Tammy," the other girl said. "I'm your twin sister."
Standing up, Cammy moved as if to hug her sister. Tammy prevented that with a sharp kick to Cammy's midsection. In a flash of red and black, she transformed into a beautifully dangerous Sailor Sith. "And I'm Sith Mistress Pandemonium. I'm also here to kill you."
~*~*~*~*~
Priire was not a happy person. A hoard of evil fire ants had massed in the Jedi Temple, running out a good many senshi. She had also found out that she was badly allergic to them. Her bite-covered left hand had swollen up to twice its original size. The ex-mercenary felt like punching something, except that would hurt badly.
"Josie?" she called to the other girl in the room, waving a gloved hand. "Hey, Josephine, snap out of it!"
The dark-haired Sailor blinked. "Hmm?"
Priire shook her head. "What's wrong? You don't seem to be yourself."
"I'm not sure," the gray-eyed girl confessed. "I have this strange feeling that something's wrong."
The blonde shrugged. "I don't sense anything. But then, that's usual." Priire wasn't particularly strong in the Force, and her danger sense wasn't as generalized as others' senses.
Suddenly, Solai skidded to a stop in front of the pair. "We's got problems, babes!"
Priire stood up. "What?"
"Cammy! There's something big going down with her," Solai explained, speaking quickly. "I was gonna follow her and see where she went, but I thought I'd find you guys first. There's also..."
Josephine finished his sentence for him. "A disturbance in the Force."
"You got it, beautiful," the cat exclaimed, leaping to Priire's shoulder. "I think she's up on the roof."
"Calm down," Priire insisted. "We'll go up there and see."
You may not go
She must do this alone.
There are sins for which
One of them must atone.
Solai batted at Zarathustra. "Crazy equine. She needs our help!"
The pegasus snorted at him and shook his mane.
She can fight the pair
And win, 'tis true.
But you may not help,
Destiny demands its due.
"Since when do you run Xarae's errands for her?" Priire demanded, one hand on her henshin necklace. "She can tells us herself." The senshi made like she was going to push past the ethereal pegasus.
He explained in his odd way that Xarae was otherwise occupied, and she had asked him to fill in. The pegasus didn't sound like he wanted to be an errand boy.
Josephine put a hand on Priire's shoulder. "It'll be okay. If he says she can, then I believe she can."
~*~*~*~*~
Sailor X faced down Sailor Sith Vortex and Sith Mistress Pandemonium. "Why do you want to kill me?" X asked Pandemonium, avoiding the latter's kick.
Tammy got a hold on Sailor X and threw the orange-haired senshi at a pipe sticking up on the roof. X tucked and turned her momentum into a spin. She landed in a crouch and turned on Tammy.
"Because I'm the Sith of Paranormal Sight and Pandemonium! And because I want to!" Pandemonium yelled, answering X's question. The redhead leapt and kicked at X again. Impossibly, she covered the distance between the two. Also as impossibly, X intercepted the kick and twisted the Sith Mistress's leg so that she fell. "I don't want to hurt you!" X told her twin sister as she stood over her.
"Good, because I will kill you, and that'll just make it easier!" She flipped X over her head and leapt up.
X landed hard and struggled to stand. "Don't do this!" she begged. Pandemonium kept coming at her, so X leapt over the girl's head to land behind her.
"This is getting us nowhere," Sailor Sith Vortex growled. She grabbed the unsuspecting Sith Mistress by the neck and formed three long claws that protruded out of her knuckles. The blue-skinned Sith held the claws to Pandemonium's neck and smiled harshly at Sailor X.
"All right, daughter," Vortex spat the words out of her mouth. "Time for a little lesson in evil."
~*~*~*~*~
Little Tammy reached for a shiny bit of glass. She held it up to the light and cooed at it. A woman scolded her and took the glass. Tammy started to cry and begged for some toy, any toy, that she could call her own. There wasn't anything to give her...
Little Cammy stuck her thumb in her mouth and pouted. She didn't want to play with the dolly her big sister had just handed her. She wanted to play with her big sister's pretty beads! Her sister shook her head and told Cammy to play with one of her other toys....
Little Mistique batted her eyes at anyone who would glance at her. She knew that being beautiful was the only way to get anything in the world. Being a shapeshifter, she could have any looks and therefore anything - that she wanted. All it took was the right manipulation...
~*~*~*~*~
"Let her go!" Sailor X shouted.
Vortex laughed. "You've got to be kidding. Let her go? Why would I do something that... nice?"
Pandemonium struggled against Vortex's hold. "You said we'd work together to kill her!" she accused.
The shapeshifter rolled her eyes. "We are working together to kill her. Of course, the side effect is that you also die."
X's eyes were wide. "No! You can't kill her! She's your daughter!"
"Please. Spare me the theatrics."
Balling her hands into fists, X stared at Vortex. "I'll do anything... just don't kill her. Take me instead."
"How noble," Vortex yawned. "I can't believe that someone with my genes would do something so stupid. I'm leaving and taking her -" she pointed to Pandemonium "- with me." A sudden savage grin appeared on her lips. "If you ever want to see her alive again... you'll do what I tell you. Otherwise..." The Sith left the rest of her sentence to X's imagination.
"No!" Sailor X screamed as Vortex and Pandemonium disappeared.
~*~*~*~*~
A young blue-skinned woman ran from a forgotten alley. She tried to blame her clouded sight on the night's milky darkness... not admitting, even to herself, the tears that ran down her cheeks for her abandoned children.
