Part I

Vader's steps echoed throughout the ruined hall he walked through, his black cape flowing behind him. He nodded approvingly at the walls charred by blaster fire; clearly the Stormtroopers had done their job.

He turned to the clone walking next to him: Captain Rex. "You are sure no Jedi remain here?"

"Yes, sir. My men and I have checked all spaces that could be considered potential hiding spots for over a hundred different species that we expect were at the Temple at the time of Operation: Knightfall."

To virtually any other person, Rex's voice would have sounded stoic, the usual expressionless speech in which he and his 'brothers' spoke. However, Vader could sense his subtle fear; if not in the tone he spoke, then in the emotions rolling off of him like rain to the Sith Lord's life-sustaining suit.

He almost smiled, not that it could be seen beneath his mask. The Captain was still uncomfortable addressing him, as were most of the other men in the 501st. He wondered what would happen if they knew he was Anakin-

The thought was crushed as soon as it came to be, the life mentally squeezed out of it. He was Darth Vader. The Troopers knew that, and that was all that mattered.

Abruptly he paused in front of the entrance to a once-familiar corridor that now looked like all others, scarred black in long streaks by flying blaster bolts. Rex, who had also halted, glanced at the barely-legible sign above it. "This leads to one of the wings where the Jedi were housed. The Master/Padawan Quarters, I believe."

"I am aware of our location, Commander." I lived there for fourteen years of my life.

"Of course, Lord Vader."

He didn't acknowledge the response. Instead, he was focusing on the hazy murmurings of the Force, trying to find the reason as to just why he could hear blasters being fired and lightsabers whirring, and occasionally, a cry slipping into a world dominated by fire.

He turned to look down the hall he had strode through countless times, from which the echoes of memories seemed to be lingering in the largest clusters, or at where they were the most vocal, moaning and lamenting rather than the soft whispers present in every other wing of the Temple he had traveled through. Something seemed to be holding them in a sort of cage, making the past stick to the future as though they were welded together. A leftover artifact that the clones hadn't recognized, most likely.

Or a hidden Jedi that had seen the death of his –or her- comrades, and was now unwilling to leave their gravesite, until they avenged their fallen friends.

It was a long shot, he knew: The 501st was composed of the most efficient clones- Stormtroopers, rather; he still wasn't quite used to the new title, even after the changes had been in effect almost a month. They had an even higher success rate in their missions than all other legions, and with all of Jango Fett's replicas allegedly being the same mentally and physically, that one specific group could break off was almost… impressive. They would have to be highly talented to break away from their already above-average 'brothers'.

Still, the Jedi were tricksters, as proved by the way reports of them were still showing up even after the supposedly impenetrable Order 66 was executed. It was simple for even a basic Force-user to hide themselves from others not as perceptive, others like the Stormtroopers.

He turned to Rex; the Human would just be an annoying diversion during his scan for the Jedi, and quite honestly, he wasn't certain if he could resist the urge to squeeze the man's windpipe, just to prove that he did indeed know what he was doing, and that he was perfectly capable of completing a simple scan of the grounds upon which he had spent years of his life. "I will examine this area further. You will remain here." He didn't phrase it as a question.

"Yes, Lord Vader." Despite the prompt answer that was given so swiftly, it almost seemed instinctive, he could sense no small amount of hesitation radiating from the Captain.

Such uncertainties had no place in one in as influential a position as Rex. "You have doubts?"

Again, he could sense an inner struggle, this time between being questionless, as was expected of him, and being honest. "I was instructed to stay with you."

That was his only defense? No wonder disputes between Imperial planets couldn't be settled by the Troopers. "And now you have been told to stay here. Must I explain further?"

"No, sir." He drew his blaster with his left hand; saluted with his right.

Vader turned away from him, deciding to not acknowledge the display of loyalty. Instead, he focused only on the rooms that he passed as he walked down the hallway. The echoes lingering to the side of all his senses were omnipresent –After all, Operation: Knightfall hadn't been limited to any one location of the Temple– but they were indeed getting stronger as he went deeper into the foyer. Instead of just seeing shadowy silhouettes of Jedi and clones, he could now make out faces, and, with regards to the otherwise identical soldiers, markings on armour.

The sounds of blaster fire grew louder in his mind as he approached a certain chamber, or rather, a former one: The walls that had once wrapped around it were now mostly burnt, and even the parts still standing, the ones that had somehow avoided complete devastation, were scarred where countless blaster bolts had hit.

It was odd to see how the apartments he had once lived in with his Master had changed in a relatively short time. Such erosion to what he had known had also been present on Tatooine, but then again, he had strayed from that hellish planet for nine years of his life, not just a month.

A month… that was all it had taken for him to change so utterly and completely that if he ever saw his former self, he didn't think he would recognize him.

Vader yanked himself out of the pointless reverie. If there was any reason he was unable to look at what he had once been, it was out of the shame that came from being so pathetically weak, to the point that he had once been a Jedi.

He stepped through what had once been a doorway and entered the room, merely for the sake of proving that he could indeed face the memories conceived in this very location.

The Sith Lord scanned the quarters he stood in. They had the same defeated look as every other set of rooms he had been in, and yet, there seemed to be a stronger residue of memories lingering.

In a few long steps, he strode into one of the bedrooms, and, seeing nothing, spared no time moving to the next. Again, he found nothing but the faint sounds of blasters being fired, and the scent of smoke, which lingered around him just enough so that he knew it was there, yet he was unable to pinpoint its exact location.

Vader headed back towards the main room, frustrated. It seemed almost as if the 'echoes' were only figments of his imagination, brought on by a location overflowing with personal meaning.

He wondered if they would leave on their own or if, like the suit he now wore, they would forever be a part of him.

Nonsense. Unlike the memories, the suit actually existed, created for him by engineers and medical droids. The 'echoes' were just thoughts, tales wound in his own mind.

He was exiting his former apartments, convinced that was true, when something shining amongst the ash and charred segments of the wall caught his eye.