The Mandalorian Jedi

Chapter Twenty Seven

I couldn't breathe. It felt as though a planet had landed on my chest and as much as I tried push it off nothing worked. I don't know if it was the panic or the uncontrollable sobs or the crushing feeling that the world was collapsing...

I had let the force guide me from speeder to speeder until I somehow reached the Jedi Temple and there I was, crumpled against a pillar struggling to pull a single breath of air into my lungs. It was too much, Anakin's betrayal, Palpatine's hand in my life. Of course it only got worse. Naakla and Ka'ra found me surprisingly quickly. They didn't bother to coddle me, they growled instead and nipped my shins until I got myself moving. They herded me towards Grogu's room and I let them. I barely noticed the sudden rush of shock that rippled through the force or the sound of screams that began at the entrance of the temple. My Loth cats did though and they moved all the quicker for it.

I fumbled to open the door to Grogu's room. He was awake when I reached him, eyes wide and ears shaking ever so slightly. He reached up for me and I pulled him against my chest. That was enough to calm my breathing and my mind. I had a focus, whatever Palpatine had planned I needed to get Grogu to safety, beyond that nothing else mattered, for the moment I could forget about my brothe- Anakin, I could forget about Mace and the crushing heartbreak. Grogu was my only priority.

I grabbed the blanket from his cot and used it to make a kind of sling, leaving my hands free to fight. I could sense it through the force now. I was going to have to kill a lot of people tonight and I had a terrible feeling many of those people would be my friends. I had to give it to Palpatine he was clever, attacking from outside would never last long but crumbling a system from within? Well we may as well have surrendered before this whole thing even started. I flinched at the thought and told myself that at least we had tried. Right? The screams pulled me back to reality. They were getting closer. It was easy enough to realise what was happening, from the blaster shots and the suddenly guilt ridden memory of Fives' warning not so long ago. The clones. Palpatine was using the clones, just as Fives had told us he would. I took a deep breath, patted Grogu on the head and twisted my sabers together. One more deep breath, a soft smile towards Naakla and Ka'ra and I opened the door to what could only be described as my version of hell.