#Ikite took one glance at this chapter and went ’this is mine’

[sinvulkt]

Angstpril: 21. You're ON YOUR OWN, KID

@whumpril - 21. Scars

We stood, bloodied and bruised, in the ruins of the Governor’s Palace. The Force shifted in agitated current, its sensation new and foreign under my fingers. The slave horn rang one last time. A strange feeling of emptiness filled me. This was it. 

It was over.

"You are free. You can go home now."

"What about you, Liberty?" Ikite asked.

"Some may call me old, but I like to believe I still have some golden years in front of me," the scarred twi’lek answered. "I shall see if some planet needs a former-slave-revolutionnary."

Ikite asked the question I didn’t dare ask. "Can I come with you?" Would I even want to go where that man with so much blood on his hands went?

"I can’t take you with me."

"Why?" Ikite stepped up. "I’m strong! I can help!"

A part of me buzzed to come in the conversation. 

I stayed back. 

I knew it wasn’t my place. Not when Ikite was seconds away from attacking me, his rage almost palpable in the Force. He may have been raised at the Temple like me, but he had already proven not to care for the Jedi path. The blood of the defenseless tainted his hands. Only Liberty’s presence made him behave right now.

The twi’lek smiled.

"I know you do. But I believe you could help more if you took your own path." He turned towards me. "You were Jedi, weren’t you?"

I nodded.

We weren’t. We were cut before we ever could be.

Liberty whispered in his comm, the noise too lost in the freed slaves’ cheers for me to hear. "I got you both an appointment. Someone should come to take you home soon."

Home… but what was home?

I nodded again, fists clenched so hard my hooks had broken skin. The collar around my neck was gone, and everyone around shouted that we were free, and yet, it didn’t feel like it. Instead of a weight removed from my shoulders, it was as if a weight had been added instead. Invisible chains filled with authorities and expectations. 

If I ran away now… would anyone stop me?

Would I survive if they didn’t?

I let the chains wrap around my wings, close around my ankles. There was a time when I believed in ’Freedom’, but now I knew better. As a ’free being’, I had better survival chances than a pretty slave… I may have more free time, too. But I was still bound in many ways; by Ikite’s rage, my own guilt, my body’s need for food and water… By the memory of the Jedi Order.

"Liberty!" Ikite’s shout cut through my thoughts, and I raised my head again. The twi’lek had stopped in front of an old shuttle, its ramp deployed. "Let me come with you!" Ikite cried, running behind Liberty.

The twi’lek stepped onto the ramp, his features hardening. "No. I’m sorry, but you are on your own, kid."

Ikite froze.

(A part of me curled in satisfaction at seeing him so hurt. It stirred the Dark, brought its whispers to my ears— I snuffed it out. I had no use of it. Not yet.)

Liberty disappeared into the shuttle, and far before Ikite could reach him, he was gone, the ship a dark spot on the horizon. I looked away, doing my best to ignore the sobs of my unfortunate companion.

My wings were flattened against my back, my body instinctively trying to make me appear as small as possible in the hostile environment. It was only a matter of time before Ikite’s sobs quieted down, turned into rage towards the world. Towards me, who was near, weak, and distasteful enough to prove a satisfying outlet.

Ikite, or any of the former slaves around.

To my relief, another shuttle soon landed. A cheerful weekay exited it. Our ride, the Force current immediately provided.

I had yet to be used again of it intruding so easily my thoughts, permanently begging for my focus and battling with my sense for dominance. It had been easier when there had been nothing else to focus on, in The Room.

"Liberty asked me to play taxi. To AgriCorps, that’s right?"

Ikite didn’t move, his eyes still glued to where Liberty had disappeared, so I stepped up. 

"Yep. Rumors are that I got quite the green thumb," I smirked. The weekay stared at me for a second, then welcomed us into his ship.

This person didn’t know who I was. What I had done. How I had betrayed.

We chatted on, and they showed me how to copilot, while Ikite stayed silent in the back.

 It was nice.

I tried not to think about where we were going. To the same place I had been forced into, years ago. It couldn’t be worse than slavery, could it?

A part of me wondered if I should have insisted on following Liberty instead- perhaps put in a Force-suggestion, like Ikite had neither the will nor the strength to do, but… I knew it wouldn’t have changed anything. I wouldn’t find what I looked for- neither with Liberty, nor at the AgriCorps. In the end, the destination didn’t truly matter.

Everywhere was the same.