The Clone Wars Gets A New Victim

Chapter 38: The Ashes Of Our Home

Clones awaited the Jedi when they returned. It was as they had expected, it was a trap for any survivors, but it had also been easier to get here because of the session at the senate, just as Yoda had said.

The three Jedi all knew that conflict with the clones was inevitable. That didn't stop it from breaking Grim's heart. She knows that they have no choice in the matter, they were victims of the Sith just as much as the Jedi were. Still, she couldn't bring herself to say anything even now. Even when her silence had already cost so many lives.

She looked at Obi-Wan and Yoda with tears in her eyes, silently pleading with them, because she still can't say the words out loud. They look at her with a silent apology, understanding what she was trying to convey, even if it wasn't everything.

The two of them ignite their lightsabers, the blue and green blades humming to life. Grim hesitates, she doesn't want to fight anymore, too many people had already died, and they still were. She wanted to scream, she wanted to cry. She wanted them to know the truth, for everyone to know the truth. It was crushing her, but she had to keep moving. She ignited her lightsaber, although the song of her weapon no longer brought any sort of comfort.

The clones attacked. Obi-Wan and Yoda moved easily. The fight came easy to them - and it would for her too, but she was too broken by everything. How was she supposed to fight the men she had seen as her brothers? Even if they were trying to kill her, they had lost just as much as she had. Her shoulder slows her down as well, she can hardly hold her lightsaber straight.

As she fights she doesn't look, she can't bring herself to. It all hurts too much, with the knowledge of everything weighing on her. She had failed the clones just as much as she had failed the Jedi. Fighting had become so ingrained into her that it's easy for her, despite the pain. War was almost all she had ever known, at least in this life.

Her lightsaber makes contact with the armor of a clone trooper. She steps back as he falls to the ground, dead. Dead, because of her. She just stares at the body, "I'm sorry," she whispers to him. She hadn't meant to.

Except she had, because killing the clones was the only way, but it didn't make it hurt any less.

Once the clones had all been defeated they deactivated their lightsabers and stood in front of the Jedi Temple.

The place where the Jedi lived, home, and the place where they had died.

Grim looks at Obi-Wan and Yoda, she still can't tell them what they're about to see. She wishes she could. It was breaking her heart. She told Yoda she was willing to do this, but now she doubted if she was.

They look back at her. Their eyes are filled with sadness, and she knows they're sorry for her. She should be the one who was sorry, it was because of her this even happened.

She rolled her shoulders back and steeled herself. She had to keep her composure, for their sake. No matter how much she felt like she was dying. Together they entered the Jedi Temple.

It was in ruins.

There were scorch marks from blasterfire and lightsabers alike. Some pillars had been cut down and destroyed. There's blood and bodies on the ground. The bodies belonging to both the Jedi and clones.

Grief chokes Grim. This had been her home, for three years this had been home. They had been her family. Even having seen this before had not prepared her for this, because this time everything was real. The light that once lived in this place was gone, in its place was nothing.

The nothingness almost killed her.

They reached the center, where a group of dead Padawans and younglings lay. Obi-Wan gasped at the sight, "not even the younglings survived."