A/N: Chapter 4! Yay! First, thank you guys for helping me to understand more about the Star Wars universe. I got so much help after chapter 3. It was really gratifying and awesome to get all those comments. Anyway. Let's get right to it, shall we? Enjoy!

The youngling was gripping Anakin's hand tightly, and he didn't seem to want to let go anytime soon. Jocasta had to pry his tiny fingers away from Anakin's and forcibly drag him aside so that the Knight was able to bandage Anakin's shoulder without the youngling getting in the way. He was crying the entire five minutes it took for the Knight to finish Anakin's battlefield treatment.

The second the Knight stepped back and Jocasta loosened her grip, the youngling went flying back to Anakin, gripping his tunic with whitened knuckles, his face buried into Anakin's side. Tears wetted the fabric, and Anakin offered the other two adults a sheepish grin.

The main hall obviously led to the main entrance. It struck Anakin as hilariously funny, as they snuck down the hallway, that they were bypassing the large exit in favor of an air conditioning vent. He figured he was getting delirious, because it wasn't even that funny; it was just common sense. They would be slaughtered as soon as they peeked a toe anywhere near those large doors. Of course, if Anakin was alone, he probably would have gone for it just to spite Obi-wan. And his Old Master would have been on his heels, lecturing all the while.

A small smile tugged at Anakin's lips, and he barely managed to shake it and the wild daydream away. The Knight glanced at Anakin's quick movement, a question in his creased brow. He raised an arching eyebrow in reply, and the Knight's attention flew to the ceiling as if there was a nest of gundarks lurking above. Glancing up to make sure there really wasn't a sixteen clawed beast in the rafters, Anakin figured he probably was delirious. He was certainly sleep deprived enough to be medically classified as suffering from delirium. How many days had it been since he had actually slept? Three? Five?

Clones patrolled the hall, but the groups were sporadic and infrequent. Clearly, the majority of the squadron was still dispersed throughout the Temple, cleaning out the remaining Jedi. It was a large Temple, with many hiding places, and the clone numbers had no doubt been reduced drastically during their attack. When the clone patrols did come along, the group was able to hide behind the many great pillars and fade into the background. The clones didn't bother to sweep their surroundings as well as they should; after all, what idiot would expose himself to such an open hallway?

Jocasta and her idiots would.

It was perfect. It was hiding in plain sight. And they didn't run into trouble as they sprinted down the hallway, making their way for the corridor that would provide an exit for them.

That was, until the sounds of combat echoed through the hallways. They heard blasters going off near the entrance and halted in their steps.

"Skywalker, no!"

Anakin didn't even realize he had taken off until Madam Jocasta called after him, but he didn't stop his sprint for the entrance. He did slow enough to call over his shoulder something about meeting them in the corridor in a few minutes. The next second, he was out of range of the loud whispers they had been calling to each other in, and any attempt for Jocasta to order him back, would call attention to their group.

He had just caught sight of the white clone armor when he felt a motion beside him, accompanied by a sharp pain in the back of his head that sent him reeling. Stumbling twice before regaining his balance, Anakin's head snapped to the side with a force that nearly had him stumbling again. His finger, hovering above his lightsaber switch, twitched spastically as his prepared to confront his attacker.

Madam Jocasta ran beside him, staring him down with a mastered disapproving glare that would have sent any lesser Jedi running for cover. Anakin settled for giving her a slightly sheepish grin. The Knight, an exaggerated limp breaking his step, ran on Jocasta's other side.

The huddled mass of white armor with blue markings rippled like a wave. A brown Jedi cloak flashed through the crack momentarily before it was swallowed up again by the circling clones. They had developed a system for Jedi slaughter by now. The precision of all of their movements, the confident manner they held themselves, as the troops surrounded the Jedi, several carrying riot shields already hot with scorch marks from the Jedi's 'saber, spoke of the many Jedi they had faced to perfect the system.

It made Anakin sick, and brought that anger straight to the surface once again. From the corner of his eye, he saw Jocasta watching him closely with an indistinguishable look on her face, but he ignored it. The large doors of the main exit were just beyond the scuffle. If they could just make it past, then they could make it out.

Movement from the ceiling caught his attention instead, and Anakin silently cursed.

The 501st was definitely maintaining its reputation as the most innovative battalion of the clone army. Anakin knew without a doubt that they wouldn't make it to the doors if they tried.

The Jedi yelped as a blaster clipped him, and his green lightsaber wavered.

Anakin came up with one of his improvised plans.

He barely had time to question his own sanity before he was leaping forward, crashing shoulder first into the circling clones' backs and sending an entire section of them to the ground in a tangle of limbs. There were several shouts from all of the clones as they registered the new threat, but Anakin was already springing away from the heaping mass of troopers and towards one of the shield-bearing clones still standing. True to training, the clone raised the shield between Anakin and himself. Anakin's foot landed lightly on the shield, only touching it for a second before shooting off of it, up into the air, with enough strength to leave his stepping stone stumbling wildly into his fellow clones. His feet came in contact with a pillar, and then he was pushing off further up into the air. Another pillar, higher up this time.

He was about halfway to the ceiling, and the clones waiting in ambush up there, dangling from grappling hooks with silencers on their blasters, started to fire. Anakin pushed off the pillar, feeling a blast hit where he was only seconds ago. Down below, he was vaguely aware of Jocasta, the Knight and the other Jedi fighting off the ground forces, but the five on the ceiling were some of the most accurate troops in the 501st, and he couldn't afford to hesitate as he made his way up to the ceiling using the pillars as stepping stones.

At least he was drawing their fire, because his fellow Jedi down below would be like fish in a barrel with blasts coming from all sides.

Finally, with one last push, Anakin was flying through empty air. Gravity began to take effect, and he felt himself begin to descend, and it was a long way down. His lightsaber flashed, a clone cried out in pain and slumped, and then his hand was grasping the grappling rope, his feet balancing on the clone's dangling body as the cord twisted to face the remaining four clones.

Their shots at him had stopped. They just watched him, their muscles lax and their guns resting easily at their sides. There was an odd moment of stillness, broken only by the sounds of combat below. Anakin wondered if they knew their lives were already forfeit, and they just weren't willing to spend their last moments in a futile struggle. It didn't seem very clone-like behavior, but it didn't really matter in the end. They were dead from the moment they first betrayed his trust.

Three more dead clones and an severed arm later, Anakin's face was mere inches from the last clone's helmet. He recognized the markings easily. Jesse always was a severely patriotic clone, bearing the emblem of the Galactic Republic on his helmet and tattooed on his head.

"Heya Jesse," Anakin said, something dark twisting his lips into a sneer.

"General," Jesse grunted semi-tranquilly. Minus one arm and Anakin's full weight was digging into his thigh as they both dangled from the same grappling cord, Jesse could always keep himself steady in a pinch. That was one of the reasons Anakin had recruited him.

"Where's Commander Appo, Jesse?"

"Can't say I know, Sir."

"Is that a lie, Jesse?"

"I wouldn't tell you even if it was, Sir."

Loyalty even in the face of death. Anakin had to admire that. He always had. He just wished that loyalty had extended to him.

"Why?" He wasn't asking about Jesse's zipped lips.

"Good soldiers follow orders, General."

Anakin squeezed his eyes shut for a brief moment. "You always were a good soldier." It was so veiled in sarcasm that Anakin couldn't tell if it was a compliment or an underhand insult.

"Yes sir." Jesse didn't seem to know either.

Wordlessly, Anakin shoved his lightsaber into Jesse's heart- if he even had one.

The large double doors creaked open, throwing the lights of Coruscant into the Temple. Beyond, Anakin saw several dozen clones guarding the exit, some of which were already heading to support the troops inside. They would overwhelm the Jedi in seconds.

Much as he hated it (it really wasn't his style), they needed to make a retreat. Fast.

They needed a distraction. Anakin's eyes lit on the pillars, speckled in charred marks from the clones' blasters, and he got another idea.

What was that Obi-wan always said about being reckless?

Anakin leapt onto the nearest pillar, driving his lightsaber deep into the stone. For a moment, it stuck. Then, Anakin jerked, and it tore a path through the stone as he slid back into the conflict below. He was about two thirds down when clones noticed him and started to fire. Anakin resisted the urge to tear his lightsaber out of the stone to deflect the bolts. He was forced to dodge as he fell, his descent only partially slowed by the lightsaber's cutting path through the pillar. Three meters from the ground, and the lightsaber was ripped viciously from the stone, leaving a deep gouge in its wake.

He made his way closer to where the other three Jedi were. The din of battle destroyed his words before they even made it past his lips, but Jocasta must have heard his shout, because her analytical eyes found Anakin through the mass of troopers. Anakin spared a moment to gesture at the pillar, and then frantically wave them in the opposite direction.

Her eyes narrowed and she said something that might have been along the lines of "Are you insane!?"

Anakin replied, "Definitely," even if he didn't think she could hear him. She managed to spare the time to throw her hands up in exasperation before directing the other two into a full on sprint down the hallway.

Anakin focused on the pillar, and tugged. Except it clearly needed more than a tug, because the pillar and the ceiling it supported were probably heavier than the rubble he had lifted earlier. He hesitated as the reminiscent pains in his head reminded him of the consequences of overusing the Force. And then Jocasta was beside him, a vein bulging in her forehead as she pulled at the pillar. Anakin once again focused on the pillar, and, this time, yanked. A sharp pain shot through his head, his vision blacked out. And then he was running, Jocasta pulling him as the pillar crumbled and huge blocks of stone began to tumble from the tilting pillar that was falling, falling, falling...

The pillar fell, and the room exploded in a whirlwind of dust and stone.

When the dust cleared and the surviving clones searched for their targets, the Jedi were long gone.

They didn't escape without casualties. They were lucky to escape at all. Obi-wan always did say that Anakin's reckless behavior would only put him and his comrades at risk. It's just... Anakin didn't often have to actually pay that price.

The Jedi Master that Anakin had risked everything to save wouldn't make it anyway. He would die, drowning in his own blood.

The blaster wound Jocasta took to the side was pointless. Pointless and possibly deadly. The Master would die. Jocasta might live. If she was lucky.

The Knight was patching her up now. He said she would probably live. If she got actual medical attention.

Score one for the good team.

Anakin was once again fighting a ferocious headache that made him want to curl in a ball. Whether it was from pulling the pillar down or because of the concussion that caused blood to rivulet over one eye, he wasn't sure. Instead of hiding from reality (which seriously sucked at the moment), he was helping the Master keep his blood inside his body long enough for him to give them much needed answers, and doing a bad job of it. There was more violet blood on the floor and Anakin's robes than actually in the Jedi.

"I-" The Master choked, a purplish liquid filling his mouth as he convulsed in tremendous shudders. Anakin struggled to hold the strong man still and simultaneously keep pressure on the wound that was bubbling with that purple blood. In between pants, the Jedi managed to stutter out, "I thought… we… we were… safe. T-... the war… over…" Any other speech was halted by another bout of coughs and wheezing.

Anakin and Jocasta exchanged confused looks, hers so glazed over with pain that she barely managed to hold his eyes for more than a second.

"Master… why did you think the war was over? Who told you this?" Anakin asked, shaking the Jedi when his eyes began to drift closed. The master didn't have long before he joined the Force. There was nothing Anakin could do to stop that. It was cruel to deny the man refuge from his pain in the Force, to use his last moments for questioning rather than fulfillment, but something told him he needed to know, that many lives could be saved from the Master's answer.

"Tr- transmission…" the master muttered, "fr- from t-temple…" he fell silent, and then he was gone.

"A transmission from the Temple saying the war is over?" Anakin repeated, trying to work out how and why the Master would have received such a message.

"It makes perfect sense," the Knight muttered. At Anakin's confused look, he elaborated with a begrudgingly respectful tone. "You go home when a war is over. A transmission like that would draw any remaining Jedi right into the Temple, and the clones waiting within."

"Like him," Anakin realized.

"Like him," the Knight agreed. "Smart."

"And very dangerous," Jocasta added. "A transmission like that will lead many to their deaths."

"Is there something we can do? A warning we can send?" The Knight asked.

Anakin and Jocasta made eye contact, and came to a decision instantly.

"The best thing we could do is stop the transmission," Anakin said.

"If they managed to send messages to everyone on the Jedi frequency, the clones must have access to their communicators' locators," Jocasta added.

Anakin nodded in agreement. "If we don't delete all that information, any remaining Jedi will be slaughtered.

"And gaining access to the databases will also allow us to delete important records."

"If I can access the Jedi server, I could slice into Palpatine's records and delete those as well."

Jocasta frowned at Anakin. "You? What make you think you will be there, child?"

Anakin's reply came easily, complete with a cocky grin. "The fact that I'm the most qualified, Madam."

"You are not the only one with 'tech savvy', Skywalker."

"I know. But, out of the two of us, I'm the one more likely to make it into the communications room in the first place," he cut off her protest quickly, "and you are much too injured to argue the point."

It would be dangerous. Very dangerous. There was probably not a place in the entire Temple more guarded by clones at the moment than Communications. However, the prospect of danger was never a way to dissuade Anakin from something. In the case of his own life, he was The Hero With No Fear. Or, as Obi-wan called it, the Hero With No Common Sense. Anakin often found it could be interchangeable when it came to battle.

Anakin Skywalker feared many things. Accomplishing this self-assigned mission was not one of them. Just getting the message out to Obi-wan seemed impossible, let alone getting out alive.

Obi-wan once said something when he didn't know that Anakin was listening. 'But for Anakin Skywalker, the completely impossible had an eerie way of being merely difficult.' Anakin quite had to agree.

He was the only one who could do this with any chance of survival.

"As if you don't have injuries yourself," she argued anyway. "Don't think I haven't noticed the blood waterfalling from your shoulder. And don't even get me started on that concussion..."

He shot a cocky grin smile at her. "Waterfall is a bit of an exaggeration, Master, don't you think?"

Her expression fell. The old master could easily recognize the look of someone hell bent on a task, especially a foolish one. And she knew Anakin too well to expect him to ever back down. "Anakin, you know that whoever goes… probably won't come back."

"I understand Madam Jocasta."

"That is why I should go instead. You have much more to offer the world than an old woman far past her prime."

"Madam Jocasta, your wisdom will be far more helpful to the remaining Jedi than my brash arrogance will ever be." Anakin laid a hand on her shoulder, a new determination burning in him. "My Master is out there. I know it. He's in danger as long as Sidious has that information. I need to do this."

She held his eyes for a long time, her defiance fading into the deep sadness that weighed on her shoulders. "You are a very courageous man, Knight Skywalker," she conceded. "Your old master should be very proud."

A smile danced on Anakin's lips. "Oh, he is. When he's not exasperated at my stupidity."

She replied dryly, "I can't imagine that happens often."

Anakin laughed, went to stand, hesitated, and sank back into a crouch beside her.

After another moment of hesitation, he reached for the thick cord draped around his neck and hiding under his collar.

It was torture to pull the necklace off and into view. The ever-present warmth seemed to be the only thing keeping his soul from freezing entirely. Just lifting it from his neck made him shiver.

A small, gold ring hung at the end of the cord, resting in his hand as he drew what last comfort and love he could from it.

He tore his eyes off of the cherished ring, and met Jocasta's confused eyes. As he held her gaze, the confusion turned to shock, and she seemed to grow even paler.

"I-" he started, his voice once again cracking under the weight of emotion. His nightmare, Padme dying in agony with Anakin nowhere in sight, flashed before his eyes, and he squeezed them shut to block it out. What if he was fulfilling the dream? If he did this, he probably wouldn't be there for her when she gave birth to his child. He wouldn't be there to save her. A selfish part of him whispered dangerously in his ear, telling him to abandon the Jedi that had always mistreated him and do everything in his power to save his wife. To go to Palpatine and beg him to teach him to save her.

He almost did it. He almost stood up and abandoned his comrades. Force knows just how close he was.

But that wasn't who he wanted to be. It wasn't the man that Padme loved. If he left the Jedi to their fate and turned to the Sith, she would never be able to look at him again.

He would lose her. Not just her. But Obi-wan too. His brother. He would betray everything they beveled in and stomp on their trust in him. He wouldn't do that. He would do what was right. Even if it meant he would never meet his child. Padme would survive whatever life threw at her. And Obi-wan would take care of his family. Anakin knew it.

"I need you to take this to Senator Amidala," he told Jocasta, his voice once again strong and steady. The name made the old woman's eyebrows shoot up from where they had fallen in wry acceptance, but she didn't reprimand him, for which he was grateful. "She'll protect you and help you meet up with the others." He swallowed and took a breath before continuing. "Tell her... tell her I love her. More than anything. And tell her to love our kid for the both of us."

Through his own blurred vision, he thought he saw tears welling in the woman's eyes. Unable to handle any words she might give him, he dropped the ring into her withered hands and closed her fingers around it.

"Wish me luck," he said, shooting to his feet and disappearing around the corner with only a rustle of robes to mark his departure.

"Good luck, Master Skywalker," Jocasta whispered to the empty hallway, the precious symbol of love still gripped tightly in her clenched fist.

A/N:

Yes, I killed Jesse. I thought it was important for Anakin to try to seek understanding in their betrayal. I'm not sure how common knowledge this is, but I didn't know it before I looked it up, so just so you guys know. Commander Appo was the Commander of the 501st during Order 66. He went on to help Vader as an Imperial Stormtrooper after Order 66. Apparently Rex is with Ahsoka during Order 66? Appo's the clone that tells Bail to leave the Jedi Temple in the movie.

CT7567Rules: Your request to have Rex and Ahsoka in this will have to be put on hold. I just can't fit them in. But they will most definitely be in the sequel-thing I am writing.

I had so much trouble planning out/ writing that fight scene. Fight scenes are hard. Well, writing is hard. But fight scenes are harder. I finally drew it out, and it turned into the most disorganized screenplay thing that has ever existed. I wish I could show you, but FF doesn't like pictures or links so... oh well.

A Guest reviewer mentioned that Padme would find her apartment a Jedi assembly point soon. That made me laugh so hard, especially because I'm also sending Jocasta's group to Padme as well.

Two more chapters after this. Though, neither have been typed yet, so it might take a bit longer for me to get them out there. This fic is almost done. I have a sequel-ish/continuation of this planned out, but it is also not typed, so that might not come out for a while. I'll talk more about that once I'm actually done with this.

I can't thank you guys enough for your amazing support. Seriously. The number of followers and favorites PER DAY makes me so happy! I'll try not to disappoint. PLEASE keep reviewing. As much as I love follows and favorites, the reviews are what really keeps the fingers typing and assures me that you are interested. Thank you for your support, and I hope you enjoy future chapters.