Chapter Text
The next time that Anakin woke up she found the IV back in her arm, while reaching to take the tape off so she could remove it. A crisp Couriscanti accent said “Anakin, please don’t remove it again.” She looked to the side of her bed, Obi-Wan was sitting on a chair, he looked concerned and awful like he hadn’t slept recently. She put her hand down away from her elbow.
“Anakin, I'm afraid that there has been a terrible misunderstanding,” Obi-Wan sighed before saying “I wasn’t aware that you were enslaved” Anakin squinted her eyes at him, after a minute he continued speaking. “You are free, Anakin, you are free.” Anakin couldn’t stop herself from snorting, “no I’m not” she could sense the despair emanating from her Master.
Anakin was startled by a new voice speaking, “what would need to happen for you to be free?” looking over she saw the blue Twi’lek standing by the door.
Anakin wasn’t feeling well which apparently was making her judgment impaired. “That’s a stupid question, everyone knows that slaves are only free once their chip is removed.” she saw the two Jedi exchange a glance before Obi-Wan asked “what does this chip do?” “It's a tracker and if I run away it’ll blow me up” she shrugged and tried to sound indifferent despite the burning anger she always felt in her core whenever she thought about being owned.
She saw Obi-Wan open his mouth and close it a couple of times, it reminded her of a Tee fish she had seen on Naboo. Master Che walked up to the side of Anakin’s bed “do you know where it’s located?”
Anakin could see that the blue woman was trying to make eye contact with her, Anakin didn’t want to look afraid so she met the woman's eyes. “It’s in my spine, I can sense it” Anakin sat up and touched the place at the base of her neck where the chip was located “right here.”
Master Che smiled at her and nodded. “I’ll be right back,” she said while walking out of the room. After a minute she returned to the room holding a device in her hands. Anakin wondered what it did, it looked technical. As if sensing her thought Master Che said “this is a scanner, it’ll help me see where the chip is” she took a breath before continuing “Anakin, I am going to remove your chip, but before I need to get a scan.” Anakin tried to keep herself from being excited about the prospect of being free, but she had to see where this was going. “Can I scan your neck?” Master Che said.
It took Anakin a moment to realize Master Che was waiting for her to agree. She nodded and said “okay.” Master Che smiled at her, she moved the hair away from Anakin’s neck. Anakin heard the machine make a beep sound before Master Che pulled away.
- - -
The last thing Anakin saw before falling from conscience was Master Che smiling at her telling her to count down from ten. Anakin was calm this time, knowing that when she woke up she was going to be free.
- - -
When Anakin woke up she saw Obi-Wan sitting at the chair by her bed, he was holding something in his hands. After a moment he realized that Anakin was awake, he handed her the item he was holding. It was a small glass container that had a grey metal piece inside. “That is your chip, Anakin. You are free.” She could feel that he was being genuine. Anakin felt her tears springing up in her eyes, she knew water was a waste of water but she couldn’t help it. She was free. For the first time in her life the only being she belonged to was herself.
- - -
(Master Che’s)
It had been two days since she had performed surgery on Anakin, she was still in the halls of healing. Miss Che was currently looking at the wound on the girl's neck “it’s healing well.” she said while smiling. She then reapplied the dressing, putting a new bacta patch on Anakin’s neck. The girl had been healing well, as well as you could expect for a malnourished child. Volkara knew that it would be a long road ahead for the girl, she hadn’t seen a child as malnourished as Anakin still alive.
Volkara could sense that Anakin wanted to ask her something, the girl was still nervous around others. “Speak your mind Anakin.” the child waited a moment before speaking.
“Miss Che, I have a question.” Anakin paused for a moment, taking a deep breath. “I’m free now, but what about my mom?” Volkara could see the tears forming in the girl's eyes. “She’s still a slave.”
It was at that moment when Volkara decided that she was going to give the council a piece of her mind. She would make sure that the girl's mother would be free. They had taken this girl away from her home, and helped her but she was the order’s responsibility.
Volkara had never had the impulse to curse other Jedi, especially a dead one. But Volkara was curing Qui-Gon Jinn for the negligence done against this child.