Summary: Whumptober: Day 3 - Kozen tries to help Kaeto master her demons and almost falls prey to them himself.

Prompt: Delirium
Word Count: 329
Characters: Kaeto Vaa/Darth Kozen (Hero of Tython/Emperor's Wrath)

Rated T


The Fury
Orbit around Odessen

It had months, but Darth Kozen had finally convinced the stubborn Jedi woman to accept his aid. Kaeto panted on their bed, a thin sheen of sweat making her skin glow in the low light. His head ached, but the Sith had promised to endure so long as she could.

The nightmares had become worse since learning that Valkorion resided in the mind of the Outlander. Kozen hadn't sensed such a primal fear since his days on Korriban. Kaeto moaned, lost in delirium that Kozen wasn't allowed to cure. She had to do this herself, to face those demons that screeched in the dark recesses of her mind that even he wasn't allowed to touch.

Images of blood, sticky against his skin, or was it Kaeto's, flashed in Kozen's mind. A battle cry and malicious laughter. Her fury was impressive even by Sith standards, and no one stood long against the dual, purple lightsabers. Rage, fear, and the desperate need for more ripped through Kozen's emotions so quickly that he barely registered one before another replaced it. He felt sanity slipping away, and knew that it would take more than his strength alone to keep the monsters at bay. He had to stop this or be lost to it as well.

With a gasp, Kozen wrenched his consciousness out of Kaeto's. Her ability to manipulate emotions amplified his own, sending him into a panic the moment he felt her mind close to him. It always happened that way, the sensation of loss after being so intimately connected to another mind.

Kaeto settled on the mattress, her chest rising and falling in the pattern of sleep now that Kozen was no longer digging through her memories. He took a shaky breath, then wiped his brow with a discarded shirt. If Kozen was going to help rid Kaeto of the Sith Emperor's influence, he'd need to enlist the aid of another, more powerful Force user than himself.