After Jedi

Betrayal

Ahsoka paced anxiously around the cockpit. She knew it wouldn't make them arrive any faster, but it somehow helped her retain her sanity. It didn't take long, but those few hours felt like days. Once they were out of hyperspace, the ship's comm beeped, indicating an emergency transmission code.

"What...?" Ahsoka murmured incredulously. She pressed the flashing button to listen to the transmission. It consisted of codes, codes that only Jedi could decipher. Or, in Ahsoka's case, codes that only people who used to be Jedi could decipher. She replayed the message until she'd fully figured it out.

"Ahsoka?" Ventress looked worried. "What is it?"

"Codes...from the Republic."

"What...what do they say?"

"It's telling all the Jedi to return to the Temple. The war is over."

"Oh no..."

"They're trying to lure them back. The clones will be waiting for us. I have to get there. I have to save them."

"I'll drop you as close as I can."

Ventress hovered The Sunset above a tall building and lowered the ramp for her. Ahsoka walked down on it before she jumped off and hit the roof of the building. When she landed, one of her knees was bent so that her right foot was directly underneath her. Her left leg was stretched out to the side. That position spread out the impact zone so it was absorbed by Ahsoka's whole body instead of just her feet. It was a landing she'd mastered throughout years of jumping off similar ships.

Ahsoka was right in front of the stairs to the Jedi Temple, the very same stairs she'd walked down such a short time ago. But Anakin wasn't watching her from the top this time. There was smoke coming from the right side of the Temple. Ahsoka jumped down from the roof and ran up the stairs, taking them three at a time. There were dead bodies scattered everywhere, but they weren't clones; they were Jedi. Some of them had gunshot wounds and others had lightsaber marks across their torsos.

"No," Ahsoka whispered. She had to find survivors, she had to. There was no way they were all dead, Yoda must have found someone. Ahsoka ran inside but froze when she saw about ten clones marching towards her. They hadn't seen Ahsoka yet, but there was nowhere to hide. It was time to face this cruel reality. Ahsoka stepped into the light and her hand trailed on her lightsaber hilts, hanging from her belt.

"Jedi!" the commander yelled. "Kill her!"

Ahsoka ignited her white lightsabers deflected their shots back at them. Soon, they all fell to the ground before her. They were dead, but the sounds of gunfire didn't stop. It looked like Ahsoka wasn't the only one being targeted.

She kept her lightsabers drawn and started sprinting to the courtyard. Yoda and Obi-Wan were there, standing back to back, clones advancing from all sides. And, just as they were about to surrender, Ahsoka used the Force to propel herself next to them. The clones were taken aback by her abrupt arrival, and Ahsoka used the shock to her advantage. Before they realized what was going on, she'd slashed her lightsabers through quite a few of them. Obi-Wan and Yoda followed suit and the three fought together until the last clone fell by Obi-Wan's hand. They were all breathing hard, from both the physical and mental exertion.

Obi-Wan walked towards Ahsoka and enveloped her in a bear hug. "I'm so happy you're alive...I thought we'd all died out." He let go of her and put his hands on her shoulders.

Ahsoka let out a sigh, getting lost in relief for a few moments. "It's good to see you too, Obi-Wan."

She turned to Master Yoda.

"Ahsoka. Glad you survived, I am."

"Thank you, Master Yoda." Ahsoka gave him a weak smile.

However, the gloom soon settled in. The ever-present darkness in the Force made them all shudder.

"We need to figure out what happened here," Obi-Wan started.

"When I was coming in, amongst the dead Jedi..." Ahsoka paused, unsure of how to phrase her next few words. "A lot of them had lightsaber marks on them as well as gunshot wounds. Who could have done such a thing?"

"A Sith..." Master Yoda trailed off.

"We should check the security recordings. They're probably still in working order. Come on, into the archives."

Yoda and Ahsoka followed Obi-Wan through the paths they'd been on so many times before. Back when there weren't bodies littering the floor.

"Wait." Ahsoka stopped walking. "What about the younglings? Where are they?"

"Hmm...hiding inside the Council Room, they may be," Master Yoda inferred.

"Let's go," Obi-Wan said. He and Ahsoka took off, going as fast as their legs would allow them. Master Yoda was walking quicker than usual as well. Ahsoka knew it was an emergency protocol for the younglings to hide in the Council room whenever the Temple was in danger, but whoever had killed everyone might have known that too.

The room where there had always been such composure, even in the most violent of times, was an awful sight. The windows were all shattered and blaster marks sprinkled the walls. There were scuff marks on the floor and almost all of the chairs were turned over. It was evidence of the victims trying to escape, and their murderer had refused to let them go. But the worst part was that none of the dead were adults; they were all children.

"No!" Ahsoka yelled, falling to her knees. She could see the lightsaber marks their bodies bore and her eyes burned with tears.

"They must have been hiding here," Obi-Wan said shakily. His eyes were filled with tears as well. "Not even the younglings survived."

"Killed not by clones, this Padawan, but by a lightsaber."

"Who? Who could have done this?" Obi-Wan responded.

They walked back to the archives in silence. There was nothing anyone could say that would make it better. Nothing could change what had happened. But, maybe, maybe they could end this, kill whoever had caused such destruction. Revenge was not the Jedi way, but the Temple was in flames. The Order had fallen. No one had to play by the rules anymore.

A sad sight met their gaze when the three entered the once-beautiful archives. The records were smashed and nothing was glowing that pale blue anymore. The Holocron vault door was wide open and every single one had been smashed to the floor. It was awful, seeing what had once been a prosperous location now destroyed. Madam Jocasta was dead as well, cut down by the same lightsaber as the younglings.

"Obi-Wan, Ahsoka, see this, you must." Yoda was already sitting on a stool in front of a computer, projecting something on a hologram.

It surprised Ahsoka how quickly he moved when he wanted to. The image came into focus as Ahsoka and Obi-Wan approached. It was a figure with a lightsaber, cutting down the younglings and every other Jedi in his path. He had long hair and his fighting form was almost perfect in a very familiar way.

"Is that..." Ahsoka trailed off, trying to convince herself it was fake.

"Anakin?" Obi-Wan finished in disbelief.