Disclaimers 'n' crap: Haihai peeps! Well, I wanted to get something up in honor of the release of Revenge of the Sith…buuuuut I couldn't get something in time. Soooooo, I wrote up this one-shot in honor of my SEEING Episode III (even though that was yesterday). It does tie in with The Crystal Journeys, but not so much that it won't feel like Star Wars. Jenji and Bernie are the only two of my characters that appear and they're both Jedi. You might remember them from Legend of the Thousand Knights or, if you've read my stuff on FictionPress, Blood, War, and Tears (okay, so only Jenji was in that one). Anyhoo, you know the drill. Enjoy!

"Master! Look!" The already-cartoonishly-large eyes of Jedi Knight Jenji of the House of Marrkis widened literally to the size of dinner plates when he saw the thick, black smoke rising from the side of the Jedi Temple. The orange fur that spanned his echidna body began to stand on end.

"Good lord, what's happening over there?" said Bernie Myu, Jenji's former Jedi master. His turquoise hedgehog fur bristled, though there was no wind in the Jedi Starfighter he was piloting.

"Your guess is as good as mine, Master," said Jenji "But I sense a very great disturbance in the Force."

"I know," said Bernie "Somehow, I don't know how, but, somehow, the Dark Side is present within the temple walls itself." Jenji's brow furrowed with purposeful determination.

"We have to go in and help," he said. Seconds later, a fury of blaster bolts rushed past the cockpits of both Starfighters. "What the…"

"This can't be!" said Bernie, looking down at the source of the barrage, a small mass of beings clad in white metal suits "We're being fired upon by our own troops!" He seized the comlink at his side. "Troops! This is not a hostile craft! We are Jedi! I am General Bernard Myu and I'm traveling with…"

"All Jedi craft are now hostile craft," the clone trooper answered "We have orders from the Supreme Chancellor to destroy all Jedi." Bernie's jaw (and comlink) dropped. Hostile? Had the clone troopers gone insane?

"Master," said Jenji "Follow my lead!" He dove his Starfighter downward, straight towards the mass of troopers. Together, he and Bernie took out most of the clones that were standing guard below. After their Starfighters came to a screeching halt outside the temple, the duo rushed in.

"Jenji, try and find their commander," said Bernie "I'll save what Jedi I can!" He rushed off down the hall and Jenji in the opposite direction. Jenji tried to calm his pounding heart. Who could be so radical as to assault the Jedi Temple itself? He contemplated this as he ran, taking down troopers when he saw them.

Then, he remembered a dream, a dream he had had a long time ago.

He had been running down the hallways of the Jedi Temple when he entered a large room. The Room of the Thousand Fountains. It had been one of his and Anakin's favorite hangout places when they were younger Padawans. Anakin Skywalker, his best friend, had been there, a grown Jedi Knight, skewering Bernie with his lightsaber. What if this dream was coming true?

Younglings. Dead. Everywhere.

Bernie's breath caught in his throat. What kind of monster would do something like this? For some reason, his instincts were telling him that only a Jedi could be responsible. Why? Why would anyone do this? Then, he sensed it: a surge of the Dark Side. He had to follow it, he had to destroy it. He raced down the hallway, meeting no resistance. He barged through the first set of doors he came to and froze.

There was a Jedi cutting down Jedi. Yet it couldn't be a Sith; his lightsaber had a blue blade, not a red one. The dark Jedi turned to face him. There was a sharp gleam of yellow in his eyes.

"Anakin?" Bernie gasped "What…Why? Why are you doing this? HAVE YOU GONE MAD?"

"The Jedi must be destroyed," said Anakin in an almost zombie-like voice. Jenji had peered through the door just in time to hear this.

"Anakin, you are a Jedi!" cried Bernie "You're one of us!" Anakin raised his lightsaber.

"What must be done must be done," he said. He lunged at Bernie. What happened next happened so fast that Jenji would have needed to slow down time in order to see, in detail, what happened. This wasn't really necessary as time seemed to slow down for him anyway. Anakin and Bernie's lightsabers clashed, but a few short parries later, Anakin caught Bernie off guard while he was still recovering from an attempted cross-slash.

He drove his lightsaber into Bernie's side. When he hit the floor, Anakin strode briskly out of the room.

"MAAAASTEEEEEEEEER!" screamed Jenji, rushing to Bernie's side and cradling his old master's broken form in his arms. Through the Force, he could sense that he had very little life left. Jenji looked around. The Room of the Thousand Fountains, just like in his dream, and Anakin Skywalker, Jenji's best friend, had made that nightmare a reality for reasons that were unfathomable to Jenji.

"…Jenji…" gasped Bernie, struggling with all his might to stay conscious "…take…me home…I don't want to die here…" Time seemed to stop again as the word echoed in Jenji's head: home.

The End

Believe it or not, Bernie doesn't die right away. He gets "home" first and is sustained by machine for a few years before dying. His last wish to Jenji is that he get married and help contribute to the eventual rebirth of the Jedi by having children. If you've read Blood, War, and Tears, you know that he does end up doing this.