The crystal is the heart of the blade.
The heart is the crystal of the Jedi.
The Jedi is the crystal of the Force.
The Force is the blade of the heart.



The scene on planet Hypori was not a pretty one, to say the least. What was left of the dozen Jedi was a blur of motion, dodging shots, reflecting shorts and getting beaten.

"Do not give up!" ordered Maser Ki-Adi-Mundi, his green blade circling in front of him. The Clones were all dead, and the remaining Jedi had to leap over the bodies.

"Now I remember why I never wanted to join the Order!" shouted Aleia. Jiruan had been promoted to Jedi Knight a few months back and Aleia hadn't missed a single chance to giver her some good-natured teasing about it. The girls were working in a stance similar to the battle on Geonosis. It worked well until something landed between them, forcing the girls to dive apart. Jiruan flipped herself to an upright position and almost fell back over when she saw what had forced them apart. The blaster fire ceased.

"What the hell…" gasped Jiruan.

"Grievous," hissed Aleia about the stranger.

A white droid (Jiruan assumed it was a droid) stood before them. Its body was skeletal and the skeleton pieced off in sharp pieces. Its pure white cape, however, suggested a vanity not often found in machines, and its eyes looked strangely reptilian. The thing's head turned 360 degrees to scan the area.

"Jedi," it said in a husky voice that was anything but droid-like. "You die now." It turned to face Aleia, who held her gold bladed lightsaber in her right hand while her left held a second which was not ignited. "You escaped me once before, but that shall not happen again," the thing said after regarding her.

Jiruan pulled out her master's lightsaber. She had never used it, but now if any was the time. The white blade ignited smoothly; its familiar hum and glow was comforting to Jiruan. Aleia ignited her other lightsaber, and the rest of the Jedi choked on their collective breath; it was bright, Sith blood crystal red.

The two girls circled the monstrous droid thing as the battle droids began firing again. The creature picked up the lightsaber of a fallen Jedi and ignited it; the blade was emerald green. Aleia and Jiruan came at him from both sides, each wielding her two lightsabers with the greatest possible speed. They attacked with fury, hacking and slashing with incredible precision and accuracy. The deadly droid, however, parried expertly as though he had been through the same training the Jedi had. Strangely, despite being the best team the galaxy would ever see, Aleia and Jiruan could make no headway on this thing. They were nearing exhaustion, but it didn't even look tired. But if it were a droid, it would never get tired; it would just endure until they could take no more…

"Don't give up!" Jiruan yelled, picking herself up a few feet away. "Think of the Republic!"

"Of course," said Aleia, not bothering to hide her disdain for Jiruan's annoying and unwavering patriotism. She used the Force to jump backwards and land next to Jiruan. The girls nodded at each other and launched an attack that had ended several of their duels in the past few months against some very skilled opponents. Aleia dove low to take out his footing while Jiruan diverted his attention to her furious attack up high.

This thing- alive, dead, somewhere in between or droid- was better than any of the opponents any Jedi had ever faced. He knew the one, almost impossible to detect flaw in their attack and parried excellently. He kicked out at Aleia and she rolled out of the way just in time to avoid his spiked foot. Jiruan was not so lucky. She attempted to turn herself slightly to avoid his erect lightsaber, but he attacked at the same time. Jiruan threw her arms out in front of her, using her 2 lightsabers to push off of his one and propel her body away.

It wasn't enough, though. The creature still managed to tip its blade slightly and scorched Jiruan from her navel almost to the nape of her neck. She screamed in pain and fell to the ground.

"Jiruan!" shouted Aleia. The monster had taken interest in a group of Jedi beginning to crowd near a space ship crash. Aleia dragged Jiruan to the shelter of a Clone trooper ship. "Don't die on me now!"

"Anakin…" Jiruan mumbled incoherently. "I understand now…"

"Jiruan, come on, rest, you're bleeding heavily," said Aleia frantically.

Jiruan wasn't listening. She was loosing blood fast and her red-brown tunic was almost the color of her dark red hair. The pain was unbearable and the wound was bleeding too strongly for the heat from the attack to properly cauterize it. Her vision blurring, Jiruan felt the connection between her and Anakin growing shorter and stronger.

"I was right," she groaned, barely audible; "We are one essence."

"JIRUAN!"

The scene faded; the background was a bright city full of Clone troopers marching the Intergalactic Banking clan onto their ships. Aleia's face melted into Obi-Wan's as her perspective became Anakin's view. Jiruan could tell he had felt her pain while flying back to Muunlist, but was now able to ignore it.

"I'm sorry, Master," said Anakin. "You were right. It was a trap layout by the Sith, and I ran headlong into it, but I emerged victorious."

"JIRUAN! Stay with me here!" Aleia screamed back on Harpouri.

"Indeed, but that battle should never have been fought," scolded Obi-Wan on Muunlist. "I find the Sith's interest in you most troublesome…"

The rest of Obi-Wan's lecture and Aleia's pleading became softer as they became one. Jiruan sighed as she lost total consciousness. She felt her power, her being, and her very essence separating from her body. Pain was instantly gone as Jiruan found herself looking on the scene from above.

Aleia finally stopped calling to Jiruan's lifeless body. She closed Jiruan's eyes and threw the crimson black cape over her. With determination, she picked herself up and reignited her lightsabers. The battle was almost over, and the Jedi had been saved by a cavalry. General Grievous turned to face the approaching Aleia.

"You should have died many times, Tachi," he said huskily, using the alias under which Aleia was known in some parts of the galaxy.

"You shouldn't even be here," she replied, being the one responsible for the crash that forced the general into cyborg body

Grievous smiled, somehow, and pulled out his pillage: eleven lightsabers. He had placed them between his finger-like appendages on three of his legs, or was it two arms and a leg… "Attack me, if you must," he said evilly. "It is futile."

"I have no need to battle a droid," she said patronizingly. Aleia flipped over his head and put on a Jedi burst of speed to reach her ship. Her destiny would not be settled so easily.

General Grievous surveying the scene and saw no survivors. Madre's escape, though avoidable, was not unexpected,, he thought as he returned to the Federation ship. It had been a successful day.

There is no emotion; there is peace.
There is no ignorance; there is knowledge.
There is no passion; there is serenity.
There is no death; there is the Force.