I would like to say sorry for not updating in a while... I'm starting move away from the Clone Wars for one question has popped in my mind ever since bookreaderninja has pointed it out: WHERE ARE ALL THE CLONE WARS FANS? I won't blame Rebels for putting the stake in the Clone Wars heart (even though I would have in the past). The biggest blame I place is on the fact that Disney is halting or slowing any new content for the Clone Wars. Yes, I know it's been cancelled by the 'Empire', but there was still so much content that was going to be available... I mean, there was supposed to be 2 1/2 seasons to go... Scripts have been written... It couldn't be a money problem, since Disney is rich with it (Forget finance. If they could raise the admission ticket for Disneyland, when it's just growing more popular, they're not holding back on income.) And considering the backlash, it wasn't a popularity problem. So why cancel it? Because you want to start fresh? Because you want us to focus only on your own content? Because you want to antagonize us? It seems I'll never know.

I'll just say that you guys will get less chapters than I have planned since my interest in it is starting to wane. Yes, I do like reviews like the next fanfic writer, so if I can hear that there are still a large group of TCW fans out there, I'll be inclined to type more consistently. But otherwise, this is the shortened version, a lot like the latter third of Where Doesn't It Hurt!.

So please enjoy... Please...

Anakin's POV

'The desert is merciless. It takes everything from you.'

I remember when I said that to Ahsoka. To me, everything about the Jedi was not all that I hoped for it to be. They held back on my passion - my passion - to help others and replace it with the idea that only inner serentity was important... Gaining inner sanctum with the Force. Trying to clear my mind until it was a blank slate for them to write on.

No one could hope to survive that.

When I was a boy on this same planet, I wanted to be the Jedi. Being the Jedi felt like the best way to become the best person ever. I strive to be that person. I hoped the Jedi would make me as such, make me be able to do all that I have dreamed... I've waited twelve years with that same hope and it still hasn't come into fruition.

I stared up in front of me, before turning my face to the side once more... There was winds blowing, not enough to make the unbearable surroundings be a sandstorm, but enough to keep my eyes in a squint. Wondering how far the nearest landmark was, I tried looking forward, but then closed my eyes again, allowing the bullet-fast sands to scrape against my cheek instead.

If Numa went out on her own, it must have been because of those Sand People. No, I am not suggesting a kidnapping like they did to my mother, but I believed she went out hearing their raucous bellows between each other. Yes. Then the sandstorm came.

The problem was that I didn't have a clue which direction she went. I was on my own... But I had the Force. Whether it existed or I had an affinity towards the Jedi Way, I still had something to believe in.

So I sat down and did something Obi-Wan would have been surprised to see me do: I went cross-legged and began to meditate. I ignored the dust and sand swarming around me like the thetastorm on Lanteeb; as violent as congested flock of sand bats.

But I kept thinking to myself... Thinking of all the good times, good things that will come once the war is over. I'm here to save a life, Numa Kareenta, and I'll eventually free all the slaves here on Tatooine. It was my dream. It was destiny to always find the crossroads to return to this forsaken planet.

The desert was merciless. It takes everything from you. But right now, I kept it from bothering me.

Redness was pelting on wherever skin was shown from the winds, swelling from the array of minuscule stones. But right now, I didn't mind.

I recited the Jedi Code that Obi-Wan had taught me, stopping at a line that seemed most convoluted: 'There is no Emotion, there is Peace.'

I wish I could believe that, but it was simply not true. None of the Code seemed true.

Cello's POV

There was an air of emptiness and discontent in my brother's workshop at the moment. I looked at how the sun's rays would stream down from an overhanging skylight. I caught it in my hand, the red malcontent. It was only morning.

Lando was about to head out to sell cybernetic techno outside in Malgan Market, but I stopped him for a moment. The boy's black hair swayed as he saw me looking at him. There was no mischievous smile on his face, only a confused stare.

"What is it Mistress Cello, clothes bathed in light and yellow." Lando gave a contrived bow... I was confused at why he was acting like that, so outlandish of himself.

"Why are you talking like that?" I queued.

"Just- just trying to be like Terry... He's always so poetic and-" He shrugged. "I-I miss him."

"You're not alone." I patted his head.

"And what about you and Saw?" He asked rather abruptly.

I was taken aback at how sudden that question was. "He's just a forgetful... person," I couldn't come up with an insult on the spot. Maybe I couldn't be able to. "He only cares about his own wellbeing. Nothing short of that."

"You like him... You have feelings for him... Don't you?" My eyes went rounded and bulged in surprise. How would he have guessed that?! I know I've been hiding it well!

"And what do you know about a woman's feelings for a man. Even then, you flirt with every girl you see like it's your own private agenda." I scoffed.

He lifted his arms, somewhat like another shrug. "Look, Mistress. I may be an apprentice and wannabe builder... But I'm a scoundrel. I'm j- I'm that."

"Yep." I tried not rolling my eyes. "You're annoying like that."

"Being a scoundrel means more than just being 'annoying'" Lando took out his gun from his holster and put in the inner pocket of his dalgo-leather jacket. "Gunslinger. Smuggler... When I'm all those, I won't forget everything the Bonteri's gave me to get there."

"On my side of the family, there's no such thing as being formal... We're rebels in this fight for liberation."

"For Onderon." We fist bumped each other...

Then the door to the Workshop burst open... I jumped at the sudden surprise, as light suddenly blinded me... The rising sun was hitting me right in the face, garish in its rude awakening. But that wasn't what bothered me as I lifted a hand shield where the bright orb levitated in the sky. Twitching my eyes down to see who came in, I saw plastoid feet clanking on the rough stone ground.

Battle droids were storming inside!

The door slapped shut again and although none of the droids blasters were raised at us, I knew trouble was brewing when I saw someone familiar trying to call to me, his voice muffled in a sack.

"Terry!" I exclaimed. My eyes bulged once again as a frown quivered on my lips.

"We found this man trying to park in his designated spot in Iziz's landing bay. Unfortunately, upon checking the identity of his Corellian freighter, we found out he was overdue. But we have other charges, besides such."

I didn't know what to say for I was sucked in on the cornering situation, happy to see my brother again but fearful of the droids there... If it was one droid, I thought I could outsmart it like the last time. But more forces meant more superiority. So I was trapped where I was.

Fortunately (or unfortunately), Lando stepped forward to start talking our way out of this.

"So name the charges!" He shouted.

"Landslide." I spoke through the side of my mouth. "Now's not the time to get us in trouble."

"Your charges won't be stated until we bring you to King Sanjay Rash, ruler of Onderon, Protector of Iziz, Hierarchy to Judicial Judgment." The droid warbled robotically, but still in its high-pitched voice.

"Without charges?" I quirked, trying to formulate an innocent tone of voice. "As citizens of His Majesty, we deserve to know what were being brought for."

"For the crimes you've made, we can't allow that."

"Sounds bad." Lando muttered at me.

"Sounds scoudrelous." I made up the word.

"We deserve more than this." Lando rebelled but raised his hands in surrender.

The droids weren't so easily fooled. "You're going to have to march to Unifar Temple before we can tell what you're accused for."

Lando shrugged. "Can I at least get one more sandwich out of my-"

"Move on!"

Saw's POV

I never had a head for heights, but here was a moment that I felt nauseous. The hard wind at the altitude was extraneous on the nerves and it just kept me on my toes..., if only it could meet firm ground. Sometimes as we repelled up, my boots met a mudslick and made me loose my footing. I held even more tightly on the handle of the grappling hook as I slipped, keeping my balance, trying to keep my cool... I was fearful that the end of the grappling hook would wobble in the unsteady terrain and cause me to fall...

I couldn't keep to dreads.

I kept repelling up the side of the rock face and into the rising sun. Once I reached the top, being the first to make it up there, my eye caught not just more forest but a city wall...

Or what was left of it. Rubble was strewn on the ground that speckled the red dirt in a random positions. Alongside that, the wall carried a newly wrestled appearance to itself with giant chunks missing from it as if gnawed by giant teeth. However, the structure resembled no semblance of decay nor foliage crawling up it's face... It look like it was destroyed only a few weeks ago.

"Guys..." I called out to those who were still clamoring up the rock... "Take a gander at this." Those who were with me was just possessed with confused looks.

Light glided against the rim of the wall, poking a hole into places where parts of it collapsed. I saw the ray from one of those outcroppings hit us, turning us as orange as the ground... The star, Prael, wasn't refreshing since it was always oppressively hot here, but no one seemed to mind... The night was long, so the drudgery we endured made that star all the more welcomed. As well as all gratitude that explication provided for us people.

I recognized my sister's voice, when she came around the cliff's edge. "A little help over here!" She gasped.

I turned around and sure enough, Steela was dangling on the edge... If it weren't for the precarious height she ladled atop, I would have dismissed her plea as something trifle. But my dread took over. "Sis!" I screamed. So I ran forward, held tight to her arm as she used her other arm to grab my shoulder, and I leaned backwards, taking a few tiny steps to accumulate her weight.

When it was all over, she coughed before patting my shoulder. "I don't mind heights like you, Saw."

"You should start." I suggested.

"I'll be fine... Let's just make sure that all the other's get up."

I spotted the Twi'lek's blue head as it made his way up to the cornice of the cliff. I had to hold myself back from pushing him off the edge.

"You." I spat.

He brushed the dust and dirt off his front, clearing himself of the elements, before addressing me. "What do you want?"

"Your name?" I crossed my arms. Some of the other rebels were following my posture.

"My name Kiddarto Kareenta. Most call me Kidd Kareen."

"I can see why." I scowled.

"Never got that before." He murmured sarcastically, trying hard not to scowl as well.

"Why do want to join us...? So you can play double agent for the Separatists?" I felt the stubs of hair that was on my upper lip hit my nose at how hard I scowled.

"I'm a double agent... But not for them." Kidd raised his hands like he was surrendering. "I know that won't be enough to get you to trust me, but it should at least calm your minds to an extent."

"Then you failed." A voice came from the ridge. Over the edge came Ahsoka as she turned around to pull Lux up as well. "I'm here to keep an eye on the rebels, but I'll glue my sight on you, for now." She pointed a threatening finger at him.

"Not for same reasons, I should know." Kidd bowed to her. "I'm sorry, but I'm also here to warn you that fighting the leader of the Onderonian Separatist Occupation is a fools errand."

"Ah..." Lux seem to keep himself from beating him. "So this is how you'll weaken us from within? Feed us doubts that we can prevail."

"Natural reasoning." Kidd sighed. "But I'm just saying it once. The leader is a Gen'dai warmaster and tactician; sadist in his spare time. He is not easily beaten."

I already got some dread, but realized that it was not voluntary. This could be his strategy to weaken us. "Nice try." I scoffed. "But we're still fighting. We shall overcome the Confederacy and the Republic with our own sovereignty..." I turned to the Jedi ambassador. "I mean no offense, Ahsoka."

"I know where you stand." Ahsoka twirled her arm in the air. She then turned to Kidd, eyemarks in a glare. "And there is another." Ahsoka tried hard not to rush the line out.

"Another what?"

"Another leader. A 'she'... You told me in restaurant."

"I-I can't tell about her... She's even worse than the Gen'dai." Kidd cowered

My knuckles cracked. "You will if you give a damn what we are trying to do."

I raised a hand to punch Kidd, before a cry came out. And it wasn't from the rebels! "STOP! No violence here! We only wish for peace...!"

We all looked behind our backs and out from the ruins came what looked like a poor farmer, complete with a tattered vest, grass-stained shin guards, rim-torn fedora, and air of an elder.

"You're the terrorists from Iziz that we've heard about." Another person came out. A woman with black hair ruffled against dark skin.

I croaked. "We're freedom fighters, not terrorists. We wish no harm on any man, woman, nor child. Just to the Droid Army."

"The Droid Army is like the body of a Gen'dai." Kidd broke in. "Take a stab and it will immediately heal and replenish."

The rebels seemed to ignore Kidd's pessimistic comment and went back to the farmers. However, pretty soon, the people retaliated on my answer. "Why do you disturb us? They peppered turretfire against the cliff that stretches this side of our home... The ground rumbled like no other quake before and collapsed some of our buildings. People are injured as we speak... Were they firing on you?"

Kidd stepped forward. "No. They weren't." He licked his dry lips. "They we're doing a test run on their weapons and didn't care if your civilization was here."

"And what gives you the audacity to say that?" A third came out, this time it was a man covered in sawdust and dirt. "We're just simple farmers and you brought the Droid Army to our doors."

"If the Droid Army knew where we were, we would already be dead." One of the rebels, Ryon Rocal, suggested.

"Nonsense!" The leading farmer shouted. "We came here to live with nature. We came into the jungle to find peace."

"And the clankers are trying to impede on that." Lux said.

"'Clankers'?" The woman questioned.

"Droids." Steela translated.

The old man looked at us with scrutiny, eyeing our features through sagged brows against fair skin, not counting the liver spots on his cheek.

"Come inside. We have much to talk."

Kidd stepped forward and I was only too curious what he had to say now. "What are you doing out here when the Separatist's are ruling this planet? It's not like they are just going to ignore these settlements. They found you last night. They will drive you from your homes."

The leader looked around and sighed. "You forgot the Onderonian way, my friends. We survive longer, not die swifter... You can say..., that we're rebelling..., against rebellion. Everyone knows that most rebellion is eventually crushed. It's not that you can't win... It's just that the odds are so far against you."

I took a guess that Lux was taking a gulp at this moment but I wasn't discouraged. I had a job to do.

"We would rather kill than to be killed. Break their way-of-life than let ours be broken." I said, without raising my voice.

The old man just stood there and pondered what we said. He folded his arms and before he continued with his strides, made one last remark. "You're so much like the enemy."

He reminded me so much like King Dendup, who was still stationed at the Nest. Hoh! I almost forgot about this whole mission being a detour to buy more time and get more forces...

Perhaps, whether these locals look brightly to it or not, they will have to be persuaded to fight with us. We need more men in order to counter this mysterious Separatist Leader. We need the planet to believe us.

Third Person's POV

The Jedi Temple was awfully quiet since the crash of the Twilight and Nu-class attack shuttle against the flat roof, precariously between two towers that kissed the stratosphere. There was a more peaceful atmosphere, much more tranquil than ever before. However, ever since the mind control of Aayla Secura, there was one thing proven to the Order: Their defenses were weak.

The Jedi Temple was treated differently from then-on-out. Instead of a sacred monument it was to be a security hub. There was the notion that the Order wasn't safe anymore, not just because of the Separatists or rogue Force-users, but because of terrorist attacks. Most people want the war to end, the violence to stop, to just let the traitorous Confederacy to go.

The Clone Wars rage on.

While the Jedi Order was made out to be as helpless servants honor-bound, the Chancellor appeared as a symbol of the Republic; that it will endure in any way it can. He has shown very little physical fatigue, besides the years he spent reassuring the public that the War was in their favor... He has control over the Senate, the Courts, and now the InterGalactic Banking Clan ever since the demise of Rush Clovis on Scipio.

Yes, his former master would have been very proud if he could see what control he had. 'Forget betrayal.' He would tell himself. 'The ends justify the means.'

A few standard miles from the Senate building, the Jedi Temple was nestled in peace that was, seemingly, a bubble against the surrounding stasis of the Clone Wars.

Quinlan Vos walked on the red carpet of the Temple, before he clipped his boots when it hit polished stone once more. He was going to take a look at his former padawan, inside the Halls of Healing.

Twin Temple Guards were stationed on either side of the door, a new addition to the Temple ever since the incident with Aayla's mind. Then a familiar Jedi doctor stepped out. Rig Nema.

The guards remained stoic, expressionless, lackluster in jaunt as the doctor hit a few keys on her datapad. She nearly bumped into the scraggly Kiffar that stood in her way.

"Oh, Master Vos." She coughed. "I'm guessing you're here to see your old padawan."

"Aayla." He specified. "Where is she?"

She appeared frank, but uneventful with what she had to say next. "I'm sorry, Quinlan, but Master Secura is in a deep sleep."

"In a bacta tank? Kolto tank?" The gruff Jedi wanted to be sure.

"Neither." Nema corrected, "Her mind is being corrected by our Chief Healer, Vokara Che."

"What about that new Archives librarian that we have?" Quinlan thumbed a filthy finger against his stick-hair chin.

"Barriss Offee?" Nema questioned. "Her duty at this point is no longer a Healer. She works in the Archives, a still important position."

"Remember, it was her willpower that healed Master Depa Billaba after she turned to the Dark Side and was taken under our custody. Does that mean nothing?" Vos gestured his hands in the air to emphasize.

"Quiet!" Nema shrilled. "You forget, Vos, that the betrayal of Master Billaba is top secret to the Order. Not even her padawan is supposed to know this. If people knew, there would be even more treachery against the Order. I can tell you that... Pong Krell and Dooku are but a few... If more traitors of the Order are to be made public, then our resolve, the Republic's citizens' resolve, will suffocate and I for one have seen enough death in this war as it is."

"But she was redeemed." Vos obstinately persisted the conversation but continued through whispering. "Because our Healers were able to change her psyche into one that could not recall those dark motives. Remember, it was Barriss's miracle work that brought Master Billaba back into the person she's supposed to be."

Nema just brushed Vos aside. "And that is the exact same procedure we will do with Master Secura, minus who's healing her. Trust in the Force, Vos. Your padawan will be just fine."

And so Doctor Nema walked down the dimly-lit hallway on the errand she intended to run, leaving Quinlan Vos altogether displeased.

"I'll find answers." He grumbled to himself. "Even if it means breaking every rule in the book."

Once again, please review. I know I haven't updated in a while and if I just have a little feedback, I'll be inspired to go faster even if I don't go longer than I intended.

Please REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW RVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!