Author's Note:Yes, the first chapters were a little screwy, but I try. Now that I have a better handle on all this the next few shouldn't have problems. Please review if you want more! Remember, without readers I have no reason to write. ;)
Wufei was eating a roll in his room as he read the only book left in the library without his fingerprints on it. It was an old book that compared myths and stories from around the world. He was about to finish his meal when Manrui ran past the door like a bat out of hell. Wufei looked up as she ran in and looked frantically around the room. "Ayeka isn't here, is she?" she asked, her voice rising in panic.
He shook his head and looked down at his book. "Why would she be?"
Manrui glared at him with her brown eyes. "When she didn't bring dinner I went looking for her and found our trays lying in a mess on the floor. Now I can't find her anywhere!"
Master Long came in and said, "Wufei, Marcus has taken Lady Ayeka to a man named Kagato. I believe she will need your help."
Wufei put down the book but didn't get up. "Who is Kagato? What would he want with a girl with purple hair?"
"He needs to marry her to lay claim to the Jurai Empire," said a grim voice by the door. Wufei and Manrui saw a young man with black hair and brown eyes in some of the strangest clothes they'd ever seen. His robes seemed to glow and ripple like they were alive. Behind him were two others that were similarly dressed and holding staffs. One was older with a graying beard and the other was more youthful and had red hair.
Master Long nodded. "This is Lord Tenchi, Lady Ayeka's nephew. The two guardians are Azaka and Kamidake." The guardians nodded.
The young one, Kamidake, looked Wufei up and down and said, "I don't know how useful an Earthling could be, My Lord."
Tenchi looked behind him. "We'll need all the help we can get. Besides, he can fight."
Now Wufei felt lost. "Earthling? If I'm an Earthling, what are you?" he asked.
Tenchi smiled. "Don't worry, I may be a member of the Jurai Royal family, but I consider myself a human being, which is why I don't plan to take the thrown." Then he turned grave again. "But we don't have much time. We need to reach Kagato's ship soon or he'll be out of reach. You're coming?"
Wufei looked at Master Long. "Why not?"
Ayeka, First Princess of Jurai, woke up on a small, round platform in a large room. A thrown of some sort sat next to it, and the whole place gave her a nervous feeling. She tried to reach the edge to see if there was an easy way down, but a force field shoved her back. Ayeka checked her hand to make sure it was Okay and checked herself for weapons.
Nothing, except that sword she didn't know how to use. For a lack of else to do, she studied the sword for an hour or so. Finally, she just gripped it and concentrated. When she opened her eyes, a long, green, glowing blade was extended from the wooden hilt. Green, like the blade that had killed that poor young man. Shocked and horrified, she dropped it. Clapping made her look up into evil eyes.
They seemed to mock her, as did every word when the man before her said, "I quite honestly doubted you could use such a weapon, Princess. It won't do you any good, though."
Ayeka frowned. "Princess? I'm a princess?" The man froze and stared at her. She began to feel uncomfortable.
He smiled, then chuckled, then laughed out loud. When he was done, he said, "You don't know who I am, do you?"
She shook her head slowly. "Should I?"
His smile became even wider. "I'm your husband!" Ayeka thought she was going to die.
Wufei watched the man Tenchi flex his hands nervously. The pale-hared woman they had met up with intrigued him. She wore a tight suit and seemed to have stones set in her wrists. Something about the blond woman reminded him of Duo and the pilot's inability to shut up for five minutes. The small girl with turquoise hair reminded him of the taller and older Tsunami who had visited. When Tenchi had introduced her as Sasami, he'd assumed Tsunami was her older sister, until Tenchi said her sister was Ayeka. Now Wufei was left trying to piece this all together.
He'd considered bringing his Gundam, until Tenchi had told him no amount of machinery or weaponry could intimidate this enemy. This Kagato seemed to have the ability to summon energy with his hands and use it as a weapon. A skill Tenchi practiced en route by forming a glowing shield in front of himself called a "Lighthawk Wing." There was supposedly more, but he didn't use them.
"There he is!" Ryoko, the pale-hared one, pointed to the front. A spec grew closer until Wufei could see it was actually a huge space ship. "Hold on!" she shouted as the ship dove forward and tried to avoid the energy beams being fired.
They came alongside and one spike of the ship dug into the white ship's hull. The next thing Wufei knew, he was standing in a hallway with the others. They started to run, so he followed. Nothing came at them, and they entered a large room that was totally deserted. "This is where he kept her last time," Sasami said.
"Hello," said a deep voice. They looked at the thrown and saw a man sitting there lazily. Ryoko started forward, but Tenchi grabbed her arm. The man, Kagato, laughed. "Trying to keep her from making the same mistakes, Prince? At least you won't, I see you've mastered the Lighthawk Wings. Who is the new guy?" Kagato's eyes rested on Wufei standing silently in back.
"My name is Wufei," he said blandly. "I assume you're Kagato?"
The man smiled and rose to his feet. "I am, but now you'll all have to call me Emperor Kagato." He turned to the side and held out his arms. "Come, Dearest." Ayeka walked out of thin air into the monster's arms like a zombie. Kagato held her close, looked at the heroes as he kissed the top of her head and turned her to face them. "Why don't you give our guests a kiss?"
Ayeka walked down the steps, her robes so long they covered her hands completely. She looked at them with eyes as empty and lost as a black hole. When she was only a few feet away, Sasami came forward and said, "Ayeka—"
Only Wufei's quick reflexes saved the girl from being impaled on the green blade that sprang to life in Ayeka's hand. Wufei stared at it and realized it was Tenchi, the strange hilt she'd had with her from the beginning. "She's under my control, now. The amnesia made it particularly easy to convince her that she was my Empress and that you all were rebels intent on killing us. Some lone memory of hers helped in that, but now she is mine. Ayeka, kill them!"
She raised the blade and ran at the guardians. They fought valiantly, but couldn't bring themselves to hurt the Princess. Azaka was the first to fall, his side bleeding heavily. Then Kamidake collapsed, the energy beam had gone through his chest. Wufei grabbed the red-hared guardian's staff and prepared to fight, but Ayeka was already battling Ryoko.
As she beat her former allies and friends, Wufei tried to get in her way, but Ayeka would skip over him and go on to the next person. Finally, all that was left was Sasami and Wufei. Sasami huddled behind Wufei as he brought up the staff into a guard position.
Ayeka floated in the air in front of them, waiting. "Kill them!" Kagato yelled. The Princess' hand quivered, and her eyes cleared for a moment.
"Wufei, please don't make me fight you…" she managed to get out before her eyes went blank and she flew at him. Wufei had watched the guardians and Tenchi fight, so he believed he had the hang of it now. He used the staff merely as a channel for his energy. As they fought, Wufei felt the power build up in the staff, more and more, until Ayeka came down hard with her blade and the staff broke in two.
There was a flash, and everything went white. When Wufei could see again, Ayeka was lying on the floor in a heap. The others who had been out for the count, were sitting up and looking around. Kagato was gripping his armrests for support. "What are you?!" he asked in horror. Wufei picked up a piece of the staff and threw it. Kagato tried to summon his power to blast it away, but it fizzled and the sharp fragment imbedded itself in his chest.
Sasami ran around Wufei and knelt by Ayeka's side. "Ayeka?" she said tremulously, her voice worried. "Ayeka?" She sounded ready to cry.
Suddenly the ship shuddered. "It's falling apart! We have to get out!" Wufei didn't think twice, he picked up Ayeka and headed out. Back on the cabbit ship, Ryo-ohki, everyone heaved a huge sigh of relief. Kagato was finally vanquished, Ayeka was safe… "We have to get her to Washu!" Sasami cried. Wufei felt inclined to ask who Washu was, but everyone seemed rather strained. For once the Gundam pilot kept his mouth shut in respect.
Washu turned out to be a pink-hared genius who looked about twelve. She claimed to be much older than that, but Wufei didn't get much from her before she whisked Ayeka off to her lab under the stairs. Tenchi and the others donned more normal clothing, which to Wufei was still rather peculiar, and the two guardians stood sentry outside the lab door. They all ate dinner in silence, and Wufei could feel the tension. He guessed it was dying and coming back that did it, he had no way to know for sure.
Finally, later that evening, Washu came out of her lab. Ryoko appeared out of nowhere and grabbed Washu by the shoulders. "What the heck happened to her? Is she Okay?"
Washu calmly extracted her shirt from Ryoko's grip and said, "She's resting, but we need to sit down and talk about this." Eventually everyone was assembled in the living room, and Washu stood up.
"Well, I did a very detailed analysis on Princess Ayeka's mind and power. Physically she's fine. You see the Jurai power is meant to protect. Kagato got Ayeka to use it to destroy and it backlashed. The result was a release of intense healing power which seemed to use Kagato's own reserves as its source."
"What about Ayeka? Will she be all right?" Sasami asked.
Washu bowed her head and said in a quiet voice, "Ayeka burned herself out doing Kagato's bidding. She can't use her powers anymore, and with all the brainwashing and amnesia I can't find her memories. She's gone."
Tenchi jumped to his feet, saying something about 'there must be a way' while Sasami burst into tears and Mihoshi started sobbing. Ryoko curled up into a ball and trembled. The guardians looked depressed. "If Ayeka is unable to draw on the power of the trees, then she can't be Empress," Azaka said. Everyone shut up, with the exception of Sasami who continued to sniffle.
"What?" Tenchi said in shock.
Azaka shook his head. "If Ayeka can't use the Jurai Power, then she is useless as Empress. The family rules on the grounds that they can protect their people, but now she can't do that. If her memories can't be retrieved, then it stands to reason it would be hard for her to relearn what she must to inherit, but with no power, there's no question." He looked at Kamidake. "The Emperor must be informed."
"What will she do now?" Sasami asked, tears still wet on her cheeks. "She can't return to Jurai, and Father will probably want to kill Tenchi because Tenchi was supposed to protect her and he didn't!" Wufei could tell she was working herself up for another bout of tears. Not about to listen to the child wail again, he walked calmly over and knelt in front of her.
Looking her in the eye, he said, "I will take Ayeka back with me. Master Long will welcome her, I'm sure. In my world there's no lost past for her to mourn, only a future." He stood up and looked around the room at the grim faces. "You said that she can't remember anything, right? As far as this empire of yours is concerned, she might as well be dead, so let her be."
Sasami looked ready to object, but Grandfather, also Ayeka and Sasami's half-brother Yosho, spoke up. "I think you are right, Wufei. Ayeka would be much happier without constant reminders of what she's lost. We would all also do a lot better knowing that she is happy even if she's not with us." He rested a hand on Sasami's shoulder. "I will deal with Emperor Azusa, do not worry." She sniffed once and managed a sad smile.
Washu looked around. "Is everyone agreed?" There were scattered nods. "Very well then. Wufei, would you come with me to the lab?"