The first sign was silence.
Not the stillness of meditation, or the hush of the Temple at night—but an unnatural, dead quiet. The kind that smothered everything. Aaron felt it ripple through the Force like a scream behind glass.
He was in the Archives when it happened.
A cold shiver crawled up his spine. He turned toward the main hall—nothing. No footsteps. No voices. Just the soft hum of lights and the flicker of data-screens.
Then the screaming started.
Blasters. The roar of heavy boots. The unmistakable ignition of lightsabers—too many, too fast. Aaron dropped the holocron he was scanning and ran.
It's happening. Now.
He burst into the lower meditation hall where he and Nira had agreed to meet. She was already there, clutching a small satchel—her eyes wide with fear, but focused.
"The clones," she said. "They're killing everyone."
"We don't have time."
He took her hand and they ran.
Down through servant corridors. Past the quarters of fallen Masters. He led her to the secret passage they'd found, a maintenance route that connected the Archives to the hangar bay. The holocrons weighed heavily in his robes—four in total. The culmination of a thousand years of knowledge.
They were two shadows in a collapsing world.
—
They reached the hangar access and froze.
A squad of clones was already there—helmets down, rifles up. Bodies of dead Jedi lay in their wake, smoke rising from scorched robes.
Aaron pulled Nira behind a pillar.
"We go now. Fast. Left side, behind the walker. There's a vent—"
He didn't finish.
One of the clones turned their way.
"Hey! Movement!"
Blaster bolts screamed.
Aaron shoved Nira forward. "Go!"
They ran.
A bolt grazed his shoulder—white-hot pain, but he kept moving. Nira reached the vent.
Started to crawl inside.
Then it happened.
She turned back—just for a second.
And the bolt hit her square in the chest.
Aaron screamed.
Time shattered.
He dropped the holocrons. Dropped everything. Ran to her, scooping her up as the world around them dissolved into fire and chaos. Her eyes fluttered.
"You said... we'd make it..." she whispered.
"We will," he lied.
Her hand fell away.
And something broke inside him.
The Force screamed with him—ripping outward like a storm. The air cracked. The wall near the clones exploded, sending two flying. The others staggered as the room shuddered. Their rifles rose again—
But Aaron stood now.
Eyes dark. Rage flooding through him like a tidal wave. The pain, the loss, the fury—
You could kill them.
The voice was there. Not his own. But inside him. Old. Cold. Power like he had never felt before surged to his fingertips.
The nearest clone gasped and fell to his knees, clutching at his throat.
You can end this. Strike them down. They took her. Make them pay.
His vision blurred red. The Force around him twisted—feral, electric.
Then—
He saw her face.
Not dead. Alive. Laughing in the garden.
Training beside him. Believing in him when no one else did.
This isn't what she would've wanted.
Aaron gasped and ripped himself free.
The clone collapsed, unconscious. The others regrouped.
Aaron didn't wait.
He grabbed the holocrons, slid into the vent, and fled into the walls of the Temple—into the underbelly of a world tearing itself apart.
It took him hours to escape.
Through tunnels. Sewage systems.
Forgotten shafts carved centuries ago. He felt Jedi dying all around him—bright lights snuffed out one by one. When he finally reached the lower escape pad, he found an old, rusted shuttle prepped for scrap.
It didn't matter.
He was gone before dawn.
The Temple burned behind him.
—
He didn't cry until he reached hyperspace.
He didn't scream until the silence returned.
He watched the holocrons flicker in front of him—Yoda teaching ancient saber forms. A forgotten Master whispering about balance and purpose.
He almost threw them out the airlock.
But he didn't.
Instead, he punched in coordinates.
Not for Tatooine. Not for Naboo. Not for any place he'd be expected.
He entered the legend: Ahch-To.
The first Jedi Temple. The source of the Order. A world forgotten by time.
If I can't save the Jedi... maybe I can rebuild them.