An orange lightsaber plunged through Captain Des' back and appeared through his armoured chest plate. As the clone's back arched and a choking noise sounded through his helmet, Sol watched as Captain Des fell to the side. His fall caused the glowing blade to burn through the rest of his torso and he collapsed to the floor, his blaster still in his hand. Sol couldn't help but feel a twinge in her heart at the sight of her dead captain and she looked up to her saviour.
'You okay?' Revan asked with both of his hands clutching his lightsaber. Sol nodded wordlessly, her back still in pain from its collision with the fallen pillar. With clenched teeth, Sol used the pillar behind her to push herself up from the ground and she made sure to call for her fallen lightsaber. The silver cannister flew into her open palm and she glanced down at Captain Des' armoured, bleeding body.
'How can this be possible?' Sol muttered. She tried to separate the Des she knew from the Des that was going to kill her at point-blank range. The missions they completed and the successes they achieved together were gone, and by the state of the Jedi Temple's main hall, it had all been for nothing.
'They've taken over... the clones they're... they're wiping us out,' Revan said in horror. 'They're killing Padawans-'
'What about the younglings?'
Revan turned to Sol with wide eyes. Neither had thought about the most vulnerable people in the Jedi Temple. Sol looked back at the man with realisation that morphed into a deep horror. If all of the clones had changed allegiance like Captain Des had said, then the temple was doomed. There were more clones on Coruscant than there were Jedi in the entire galaxy. And the clones were knowledgeable on all areas of the temple and all of those who considered it their home. Without trained Jedi to protect them, the younglings were in danger, because the clones were committing a Jedi genocide.
'We have to find them,' Sol said, pushing aside the aches and pains that throbbed throughout her body. 'We need to get to the academy. They could still be alive!'
Revan went to reply but was distracted by the red blasts they singed past their ears. They turned to the clones that advanced towards them with their blasters aimed. Sol ignited her lightsaber again and joined Revan in a series of movements to deflect the shots back towards the legion. The rising and twisting of the Jedis' elbows led to the thinning of the clone legion, but even though clones were falling, they were inching closer to the two tiring Jedi.
'The academy is across the temple,' Revan said while the two began backing into the nearby hall. 'Do you think we'll make it? You're not looking too good, Sol.'
'I'm fine,' Sol said over the sound of blasts and the hum of their rotating lightsabers. 'You don't have to worry about me.'
While Sol and Revan ducked behind pillars that were still standing, Revan glanced at the woman he trusted. He noticed the blood staining her beige robes and the dust that caked skin. Even though she continued to deflect and block blasts while using the Force to jump behind pillars, Sol looked fatigued. Revan knew her shoulder and collarbone were bothering her, and the explosion that he had seen her suffer had to have injured her in some way. Even when the temple was on fire and the Jedi were falling, Sol still fought on. She even remembered the younglings and insisted she could make it across the temple to the academy. Revan admired Sol, but he feared that she wouldn't admit if she was fatally injured, and that he wouldn't be able to help her in time.
'Cover me. I'm going to make sure the hallway's clear, and we'll get to the younglings. I think I can still feel their signatures,' Sol said, and Revan complied. He stepped out from the pillar and took the blasts from the advancing clones head on, while Sol turned and headed into the hallway.
---
The journey to the temple's academy was difficult. Although the main hall was where most of the battle was taking place, clones were scoping every hallway and annihilating every Jedi they saw. This left the corridors that were once doused in the sunlight of the Galactic Republic's city to be littered with dead Jedi Knights, Masters and Padawans.
Sol and Revan kept their guards up as they fought their way through clones. They recognised legions that they each had worked with mercilessly kill Jedi, and the two had no choice but to ensure that each clone wouldn't get back up from their wounds. With grimaces and heavy hearts, Sol and Revan looked away from the bodies of their fellow Jedi and pushed on towards the academy.
'May the Force guide everyone towards the light,' Revan mumbled as he crouched down beside a Padawan. With blast wounds to their chest, the Padawan laid with their eyes open and staring aimlessly through the window. He placed his fore and middle fingers against the Padawan's cold neck and lowered his head at the silence of his pulse.
As Sol looked down at a clone's corpse that she recognised from the 501st legion, she felt a buzz from her commlink. With her lightsaber in her left hand, Sol brought her wristlet to her face, and she let out a relieved whimper at the sight of the contact name on the small screen. She hadn't heard from him since he left for the Senate building after Master Windu. At the sudden attack, Sol feared the worst. She didn't know if the clone attack had stretched outside of the Jedi Temple, but with him being in the presence of Chancellor Palpatine, the supposed Sith Lord, Sol was deathly worried.
'Anakin!' she cried as soon as she accepted his transmission.
'Solaris! Where are you?! Padme says you're not at the apartment, and I told you that it wasn't safe at the temple!' Anakin's voice came through Sol's commlink, and Revan straightened up at the sound of it.
'We're under attack! The clones, they're... they're killing everyone!' Sol said and the realisation of the situation sunk in and was apparent in her voice. 'The temple's on fire, a-and Des is dead... Revan had to kill him. Oh, Ani... it has to be Palpatine. What happened at the Senate? Please tell me Master Windu-'
'Where are you, Sol?'
Sol was confused. There was no panic in Anakin's voice, but it could be lost in the transmission. And maybe Anakin was already in the temple and was fighting the traitor clones as they spoke. All Sol could hope was that he was safe, and that Master Windu was still trying to detain Chancellor Palpatine. Maybe when Master Windu won his battle, the clones would be disengaged from their attacks and whatever control the Sith had over them, would be released.
'I-I'm at the temple. I'm here with Revan-' Sol tried and Revan stopped behind her with his gaze on her commlink.
'Don't move, Solaris. I'm coming to find you. Do not engage with the clones.'
'But, Ani, they're trying to kill us-'
The transmission was cut, and Sol could no longer hear the background noise of Anakin's call. The hallway that was full of bodies but absent of life was plunged back into an eerie silence. Without Anakin's voice playing through her commlink, Sol felt cold as reality returned. She was relieved to hear that he was alive, but at his dismissal of her panic and the lack of questions about the attack, Sol couldn't help but feel uneasy.
'Something's not right,' Revan voiced Sol's thoughts. 'And he sounds worried about you. I thought you guys hated each other?'
Sol ignored Revan's suspicions and thought about Anakin's transmission. How could they not engage with the clones? They fired at the very sight of Jedi robes and glowing lightsabers, it was the clones that shouldn't be engaging with the Jedi. But Anakin had pushed the subject aside and didn't leave room for Sol to ask questions.
Not only this, but Sol's injuries were beginning to wear her down. The energy it took to keep her posture straight was dwindling and a dizzy spell overcame the Jedi Master. The corridor slipped to the left before it rolled to appear upside down and Sol's eyelids drooped into a slow blink. She tried to wake herself up with the urgency of their situation, but her body was beginning to slip into a needed regenerative sleep.
'Sol?'
'I'm fine...'
'You're not fine. You're hurt-'
'There they are!'
The voice that every clone of the Republic carried made Revan and Sol turn in the direction they had come from. Blasts were fired for the hundredth time and Revan raised his lightsaber to counteract the red shots. Sol took advantage of the corner that was several steps away and used the wall as cover. As Revan backed towards the corner while fighting off the clones' attack, Sol leaned against the wall and let out a groan at the pain that was throbbing in her muscles.
'Come on!'
Sol was jerked to the left as Revan took hold of her waist and helped her down the corridor. His lightsaber hummed in his right hand, but his focus was on getting Sol away from the blaster fire that was about to rain upon them. They weren't far from the academy, and it didn't seem like any more clones were blocking their path. If they could get away from the legion behind them, Sol could take a moment to rest, and Revan could figure out a way to get themselves and the younglings out of the temple.
'I think we lost them,' Revan said while looking over his shoulder at the empty hall.
'Clones don't give up, Revan...' Sol mumbled through her dizziness.
Sol stumbled alongside Revan and was able to power her legs to keep up with his quick pace. For safe keeping, she attached her lightsaber to her utility belt and used the last of her energy in the Force to soothe her aching wounds. She prayed that Anakin would find them in the temple and be able to help them save the younglings from the attack. Sol hated being reliant, but she had no choice.
'I'm setting you down here, okay? I sense something near that could be the younglings,' Sol heard Revan say as she was lowered to the floor. Behind a marble pillar, Sol felt a small relief in her legs as she let them stretch out in front of her. Through the swirling corridor, Sol saw Revan hold his lightsaber at the ready as he headed towards the door that lead to the academy's training room.
Sol had entered a light unconsciousness. Her shoulder felt as if its muscles had been ripped from her bone and her back was feeling the pain from the explosion in the main hall. She partially wished that she had returned to Padme's like Anakin had insisted, but at the thought of leaving the Jedi to fend for themselves in the temple's attack, Sol didn't regret her decision. She just hoped that Anakin would arrive soon, and that everything would be okay.
Revan felt Sol's Force signature simmering behind the pillar, and he knew that she was taking a rest while she could. Revan was wary of the quietness in the halls around him. Why hadn't the clones made it this far into the temple? They had killed all the Jedi in the halls leading to the academy, so why weren't there any of them around?
The Force was telling Revan to be on guard, but he couldn't sense anything unusual. Because of this, Revan went to head through the automatic door of the training room but was stopped by the sudden entrance of Force signature.
'I wouldn't go in there if I were you, Shan.'
Revan whipped around with his lightsaber raised. A hood sat over the head of the figure that stood a distance away and despite Revan's familiarity with the person, he couldn't help but feel sick to his stomach. The stench of darkness plagued the realm of the Force and it took Revan by surprise that it was coming from the flame that he always saw as powerful and confident with the light side of the Force.
'Skywalker...' Revan said, his tone wary.
Expecting some sort of acknowledgement, Revan was uneased even further by Anakin's silence. The hood over his sandy hair shadowed a portion of his face, but the Shan was able to see the purple lines underneath Anakin's eyes. There was no confident smirk on his face and the intimidation Revan used to feel around the Skywalker had morphed into fear. Anakin was different, and the Force was alerting Revan of a certain danger by being in his presence.
'Where's Sol?' Anakin asked, but it sounded like a demand. His tone was flat, almost droid-like.
'I don't think I want to tell you that, Skywalker...' Revan gripped his lightsaber at the sensing of conflict. But it took a scowling hitch of Anakin's lips to make Revan lose any confidence he feigned, and his air ways were suddenly got off.
Anakin jutted out his hand with his fingers cupped to Force choke Revan, and the Shan dropped his lightsaber to claw at his throat. With bulging eyes, Revan's mouth gaped, and his lungs burned at the loss of air. The Force bent at Anakin's will and the darkness that lurked in its corners were brought together to make Revan suffer. Splutters and gasps jutted from Revan's mouth and the tips of his toes skimmed against the floor; the Force choke levitating him into the air.
'Tell. me. where. she. is, Shan,' Anakin spat. Venom threaded through his words and his cupped hand shook with anger. Revan was standing in his way from finishing off the temple's last inhabitants and he making it difficult for Anakin to not snap the neck of the only person who knew where Sol was. With a scowl on his face, Anakin's eyes were beginning to yellow as his hatred flowed for the man in front of him.
Revan wasn't talking. Anakin decided to stop himself from killing him immediately, so he threw his arm to the side and sent Revan across the corridor. His throat was released, but his head collided with the wall. Revan collapsed and was knocked out; his temple bleeding and his deactivated lightsaber rolling into a corner.
With slow steps, Anakin made his way through the door of the academy's training room. The Force flared through his red signature, but the younglings that stepped out from their hiding spots were not yet trained to sense the darkness. Their wide, innocent eyes looked up to the Jedi that stepped into the room, and they thought that they were saved from the rebelling clone troopers.
'Master Skywalker!' one youngling stepped forward with quivering hands. 'There's too many of them! What are we going to do?'
Anakin eyed the youngling who was already twisted by the lies of the Jedi Order. With hatred in his heart and anger in his flame, Anakin ignited his lightsaber and the younglings stepped backwards in confusion.