Ghost of Nightmares Past/Chapter 6

ANAKIN POSSESSED

Aalto stormed through the corridors, causing Padawans and knights alike to dart out of his way. He motioned for Chaz, Uthen, lek, and Wayne to move off, and they separated, leaving Aalto to continue alone. This was not over.

Aalto pulled out his car-key and inserted it into the gap, opening his door into his quarters.

Cold air struck him instantly, as he heard, no, felt the Phantom moving upstairs. Aalto settled himself on his couch and pulled a data pad towards him, flicking it to a novel that he had not yet finished reading. He shivered suddenly, as the Phantom approached him from behind.

"Is it done Aalto?"

The voice was cold, and icy. The Phantom moved so that he was in Aalto's view. Aalto sighed and placed his data pad on the couch. "No," He replied. "I failed to get at him, because his stupid friends got in the way."

The Phantom shifted, and turned, before smashing his fist through Aalto's glass table. Shards littered the carpet, as Aalto stared, calmly, at the Phantom as he took deep breaths, trying to control his rage. Aalto finally stood up and began to gather the broken glass from his carpet. "I have a backup plan though."

The Phantom turned to him, and snarled, "What plan Aalto? You knew I was the brains behind all our schemes when we were little. You knew that you would not stand a chance against Kenobi today if I didn't give you a little hand!"

Aalto flinched at that point, and he straightened, before saying. "Would you like to hear my plan?"

The Phantom pulled his hood down, revealing white hair and icy blue eyes. Bruck Chun stared at Aalto, before demanding, "Then tell me this little plan."

"Let me just make one little call." Aalto smiled, picking up the comm. Link. He quickly tuned it into the wavelength of Anakin Skywalker. The comm. Link beeped for a few moments, before a familiar voice sounded from the other end

"Skywalker."

Aalto smiled, before saying, "Hello Anakin. How about you let me apologize to you for how I acted towards your Master?"

"How the hell did you get my number?" Anakin demanded, "I'm going to hang up."

"Not so fast Skywalker," Aalto interrupted, "I want to make an open challenge to you."

He knew exactly where to hit Anakin's soft-spot. Anakin had so much to live up to, because he was the famous 'Chosen One'. If he refused a challenge, he would be in disgrace, and no-one would give him as much attention anymore. There was a short pause on Skywalker's end, and he said, "Where shall we meet?"

"How about we spare by the fountain, tonight at eleven?" That would mean Bruck would be able to walk out into the open, without fear of detection by any of the other Jedi, least of all Kenobi. The only thing that Kenobi would have to show any indication that Bruck had returned would be the eerie voices in his head. Aalto had seen him suddenly surprised last night at the area where the padawan was killed, and he had almost smiled; Kenobi was already suffering from the effects of Bruck's essence. Aalto hung up, and turned to Bruck.

"Tonight, you shall have a new, younger and better body to take over."

Anakin strolled around the fountain area at the designated time that Aalto had said they would meet. He checked his clock.

It was five to eleven.

Anakin scowled, before pacing around the massive fountain that he had discovered Obi-Wan earlier, trying to fight against the five attacking Jedi. He scowled again, and sat, waiting, as the Temple bells struck eleven. And a figure appeared from the shadows.

Anakin stood up, facing the figure as it came towards him.

"Aalto, you coward." Anakin snarled at him. "Nice of you to show."

The figure remained quiet, as they just stood, staring at Anakin.

"Aalto." Anakin said his voice suddenly anxious. "What's the matter?"

The figure pulled their hood down, revealing a tall pale figure, with white hair and icy blue eyes. "Hello Anakin," The man said, his lips curling up as he stared at the young man eagerly. "Thank you for coming here tonight, with your body fresh for a new soul to take over."

Anakin pulled his sabre from his belt and ignited it, backing off. The man came towards him, gliding elegantly. Anakin suddenly felt powerful arms grab his own and shake his sabre from his hand, making it clatter to the ground. Aalto had grabbed him from behind, and was holding him tightly, chanting some nasty, horrible words in a familiar tongue.

Sith language.

Anakin struggled against Aalto's grip, as the man came towards him. He felt his body going limp, as though it was loosening, ready to accept the soul that was going to enter his body. The pain came instantly.

The soul entered his mouth, a blue mist. His heart raced painfully fast against his ribs, as Aalto released him. Anakin fell to the ground, pain rushing through his body, as the soul crushed his very own. Suddenly, he was receding, retreating even, into his own mind, as the soul began to take over his entire body. He kept his eyes closed, as a new voice issued in his mind.

What was left of said mind.

"This is perfect," He heard the soul say, using his own mouth to open and speak those sinister words. "You have done well Aalto." He opened his eyes.

Anakin felt he was dying. Little did he know that he was being succumbed to the crushing darkness that would follow.

Bruck stood, holding up Anakin's hands, staring at them, before pulling off the glove on the right hand, seeing the golden metal glitter in place of where a real one once was. He ran his hands up his face, taking note of the scar over his right eye, and touching the soft, light brown curls that fell to his shoulders. "I have a mullet?" He said, before clasping his throat. His voice was different, strange, unlike his own, but his accent from his home-world seemed to remain slightly behind his words. Bruck stared down; taking note of how tall he was now. A sabre hung at his belt, white metal with black metal through it. He pulled it off his belt and ignited it, staring at the blue light before his eyes. Bruck finally smiled a weird smile. He stretched his hand back to his face, his mouth this time, finding it weird that he could even smile. He felt his teeth with his tongue, pleased at how straight they were. He turned to Aalto. "This is absolutely perfect."

"I'm glad you like it Bruck," Aalto said, before clearing his throat. "Right, I'm going to run through everything Skywalker does around here." He stood a bit straighter. "Firstly, he has a padawan, a young togruta called Ahsoka Tano. She is orange, like most of them are, with short head-tails and wears a cropped red top and short skirt, with white leggings. She carries a green sabre." He jabbed his finger towards where Bruck remembered where the sleeping quarters were. "Your room is down there, on floor twenty, with the plaque Skywalker/Tano. You teach nothing, but you tend to hang around a lot with Ferus Olin, Siri's former padawan."

"Anything else?" Bruck demanded.

"Yes," Aalto answered, "You refer to Kenobi as Master, regardless of the fact that you are no longer his padawan. Skywalker is close to Kenobi, like father and son, so treat him like one." He suddenly grinned. "You actually have a sparring match set tomorrow with said Kenobi. Anything else?"

Bruck played with Skywalker's sabre for a moment, twirling the sabre in his hand. "Actually," He said quietly, "There is something else Aalto." And he thrust the blade through Aalto's heart. His friend opened his mouth in shock, before falling to the ground, bleeding, and coughing.

"Why?" He rasped.

"I want to install fear into the other Jedi." Bruck said, extinguishing the blade and replacing it on his belt. "And what better place to start, than to cause another Murder?" He turned and walked away, leaving Aalto dying on the floor. Aalto took his comm. Link from his wrist, and managed to speak a few words, his voice getting quieter each time.

Finally, his hand fell to the ground, and the comm. Link skidded towards the shade of the fountain.