At the peak of the Sith temple, Ezra was getting a little more than he bargained for. "I have been waiting," the temple told him.

Ezra, slightly daunted by the crackling lightning that was flying through the obelisk, asked, "What's happening?"

"The power to destroy life is at your command."

"What? No! No, no! That's not what I wanted!"

"Then perhaps the other who approaches will claim it instead."

This was exactly what Master Skywalker didn't want to happen. "Maul," Ezra murmured, running away from the obelisk. "Kanan! Master Skywalker! Maul tricked us! This temple's a weapon!!!"

A figure was standing at the edge of the temple, but it wasn't Master Skywalker or Kanan. It wasn't even Maul or one of the Inquisitors, but Ezra felt the same chill from them as he did the others. It was Jadis.

He stopped running and stood still, not wanting to leave the temple without anyone else to keep the Sith Countess from it. Jadis approached, walking slowly but intimidating the young Padawan all the same.

Jadis looked past him to the obelisk. "You have unlocked the secret of the temple." Her golden eyes flicked back to Ezra. "How?"

"You're smart. Figure it out!" Ezra taunted, pulling out his lightsaber. He ran at Jadis, but she pulled out one of her weapons and blocked his attacks easily. She pushed forward, shoving Ezra back toward the obelisk at the center of the chamber.

"It matters not," she decided, looking down on the Padawan as he took a step back. "This place will belong to the Emperor soon enough."

"I don't fear you!" he insisted, holding his lightsaber up.

It didn't faze Jadis. "I've killed many brave men. It did not save them."

With one hand, she lifted Ezra up and held him in the air. With the other, she pulled his lightsaber out of his hands and sliced it in two. He was now weaponless and helpless. She had but to flick her wrist, and Ezra flew backward, falling on the ground a meter or so from the obelisk.

He looked up at her, his courage seeming to have broken with his lightsaber. She sneered, shaking her head and raising her red blade. "Such a shame."

"JADIS, ENOUGH!"

Skywalker's commanding voice boomed through the chamber, startling Jadis. She hadn't sensed him join her and Bridger, but there he was, still standing tall and his eyes staring her down, daring her to kill the Padawan.

Lowering her weapon, Jadis got her first good look at him in sixteen years. He seemed no less strong, no less powerful than he had in the Clone Wars. Indeed, his stare had only deepened since then. Chills ran down her arms. No wonder the rebels wanted him as an ally: who wouldn't want someone so intimidating on their side?

"I foresaw that you would be here," she began, turning toward him, "as I hoped you would be. I've wanted to speak with you since the day I heard you survived."

"That's not what you came here to do," Skywalker accused her, his voice even.

"Skywalker, I do not say this lightly. Despite our differences, I acknowledge the wisdom you demonstrated long ago. Even as a Sith, I understand that you are a true Jedi. No one can say otherwise."

He didn't respond, not even in his posture or expression. Jadis interpreted that as permission to continue. "We need not oppose one another. My master will respect your authority in the Jedi Way if only you embrace his Empire. I know he will find your insight valuable."

No immediate answer came. For a moment, only his eyes spoke to her, and they didn't look promising. When Skywalker did speak, his voice was no less cold. "Even if I believed the words coming out of your mouth, it's the Empire that I'm here to fight against, not the Sith. Our differences go much deeper than the Force, Jadis."

"The Empire is in place to establish order!"

"And to establish that order, Tyrannus has used misinformation, manipulation, oppression, and genocide to coerce his people into compliance!" He argued, raising his voice. "His power base is built on fear! If you walked among the lowest of your people for a day, you would see how little they trust you! Your order cracks because people have begun to see hope for something better!"

Jadis tilted her head, challenging the Jedi. Lifting her lightsaber to Bridger's neck, she asked, "Is this the hope you speak of?"

He shook his head. "No, that's the fear. They fear that their leaders and protectors would kill them for something they haven't done. If you want my compliance so badly, threaten me for it. Not him."

Without a response, Skywalker pulled out his lightsaber and held it down to the side, waiting. Scowling darkly, Jadis activated her other lightsaber and walked slowly toward him. "I should have expected you to be as stubborn."

"Yes, you should have," Skywalker growled. "Sith, Jedi, or otherwise, I don't feel inclined to ally with the person who activated Order 66."

Jadis's eyes widened when she realized Skywalker knew the truth. There was no way he could have, it was impossible for anyone to know, but the certainty in his eyes was undeniable. A small smirk played about his mouth. "You really thought Ahsoka wouldn't figure it out?"

Screaming, Jadis lunged for Skywalker, aiming for his head. He deflected the attacks, taking steps backward to draw the fight away from the obelisk. He lifted Jadis up and threw her out of the chamber with his free hand onto the ledge outside. Now that they were away from Ezra, Anakin could focus on their duel.

As he watched them exchange strokes, their blades moving at higher speeds than Ezra had ever seen, he was almost mesmerized by the flashes of light that receded outside the temple. After a moment of watching them, he came to a conclusion: "I need a lot more training."

Jadis was no less agile and flexible than she had been in her youth, just as Skywalker was no less strong. The difference now was that Skywalker was no longer motivated by anger or a time constraint, as he had the first time they dueled. His expert strokes crashed down on her, forcing her to either deflect or dodge them. Deflecting was difficult, as she couldn't match him for pure strength. Dodging took a small toll on her energy every time, and Skywalker certainly wasn't giving her any breaks.

On the other side of the fight, Anakin focused on keeping a level head. He knew his dueling was better than hers, he knew his reflexes were faster than hers, and he knew his strength outmatched hers. His experience and his skill were adequate to defeat her, so that wasn't his concern. As long as Jadis was worried about him, she wouldn't go after Kanan or Ezra. Anakin was too large a threat to abandon mid-fight.

He started throwing punches and kicks into the fight, aiming for her legs and her abdomen. Jadis's frame was still thin, meaning she had little muscle and fat to protect her from injury. She could last in a duel as long as Anakin could, but could she take physical trauma?

The first time he landed a kick at her stomach, she grunted and fell, gasping for air. Somehow, she managed to dodge Anakin's next lightsaber stroke, which was really to keep her from recovering rather than to kill her. If she couldn't bounce back, she couldn't win. He kept forcing Jadis back, attacking with perfectly strategized swings to make her move toward the fast-approaching ledge.

She finally gathered enough strength to roll back and pop up to her feet, but Anakin on top of her in a moment, pressing down on her in a saber lock. Jadis and Anakin held for several seconds before he overpowered her. As she stumbled back, Anakin pushed her back with the Force, sending her over the ledge. Jadis fell down the side of the temple, unable to control her descent.

As he watched her hit the ground, Anakin turned off his lightsaber and kneeled. He had to make sure that she wouldn't get up and attack the other Jedi, so he waited at the top of the ledge, ready to move if Jadis made another attempt to secure the temple.

Before she stirred, though, movement in the distance caught his eye. Maul was moving again, but even as Anakin tightened his grip on his weapon, he realized that Maul wasn't trying to scale the temple anymore. He was going for Jadis. Well, he did say he wanted to talk to her.

Behind Anakin, the temple thundered. He twisted around and saw the peak of the structure collapsing. They got the holocron out, he predicted, and he stood up. Glancing back at the ground, he saw Maul drawing closer to his old apprentice and decided that neither of them was a threat anymore. None of the Empire's agents nor Maul would be able to use the temple, and they wouldn't bother to try and stop the Jedi from escaping. Now was their chance to leave.

Running back into the chamber, he saw Ezra supporting Kanan with the holocron in hand. The two of them were making their way slowly toward the Phantom, which Chopper had landed just outside. "We're coming as fast as we can!" Ezra was telling the droid. "Just be ready to go!"

Kanan must have sensed Anakin because he turned around to face him. When he saw (as much as he could see) the Jedi Master running toward them, he paused. "We got the holocron!"

"I've bought us some time, but we need to get out of here!" Anakin warned them, slipping an arm under Kanan's free limb. "We don't want to be here when the temple goes critical! Come on!"

Together, he and Ezra helped Kanan to the Phantom, with Anakin encouraging him. "Big steps. Come on, you've got it. Just keep walking forward."

It was the longest walk of their lives, but finally, they were boarding the Phantom to leave that place. "Chopper, we're on!" Anakin told him as soon as his foot touched the ramp. "Go!"

Chopper didn't waste any time taking off. Ezra held his master steady as the ship lifted off the ground, helping him sit so he wouldn't fall over. Anakin climbed to the pilot's seat, ready to take over the controls if what happened next short-circuited the astromech. The Dark Side was extremely volatile, he knew. If the Jedi had removed the holocron from the obelisk by force, the temple would destabilize and likely explode. They had to escape the blast range or the Phantom might short out, or even worse, be obliterated.

Far behind them, a defeating boom shook the Phantom, and Anakin could see a bright red light chasing the ship. "Punch it, Chopper," he instructed. "Get us home." Chopper obliged. The Phantom lurched forward, sailing into the upper atmosphere. Anakin quickly punched in the coordinates for Chopper Base and took a moment to breathe. As he rested, a single thought rose up above the others:

That's the last time I'm listening to Yoda.