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Prologue
It was a stormy night when it happened. The night right after the big performance from the traveling circus that had shown up in the area. The show had gone pretty well, so everybody was unexpecting of what was about to happen.
While all the other actors were asleep in their tents and trailers, one particular actor, who had always had a bad reputation of getting in trouble, was wide awake and alert…
A strangely tall masculine figure snuck up towards the Ringmaster's trailer, his steps, almost inaudible.
The trailer's lights were completely extinguished, hard evidence that the man inside was sound asleep, probably dreaming. He was right where the figure wanted him.
There was the smallest of sounds, a tiny click, as the man picked the lock, and a subtle creak as he opened the door as carefully as possible, as if he knew the trailer had a habit of making noises with the smallest of movements.
The ringmaster continued to sleep, oblivious to the man that now stood bent over his prone form. Unbeknownst to him, that show, might be the last he ever directed, and that tonight, would be the night he would rue the day he ever brought that wretched actor into his home.

OKAY IK I'VE BEEN ABSENT BUT LETS GET THIS BACK ON THE ROAD!


Gee I have alot to change...

Chapter 1 continued:
He drew near to Junas, who stepped back a bit nervous.
“It is a long story young one, full of valor and terror, I would doubt you want to hear it.” The man said.
“Can I atleast have your name, sir?” Junas asked. “Or even the name of the sword. As it is a custom for a sword to have a name.”
“A, yes, my name.” The man thought about it. “I go by many names, but you may call me Trace, Trace Pruner. As for this sword, it’s name is Nightbane, though more commonly known as Timebender.”
“Nightbane…” Junas thought long and hard about it. “Thank you, Mr. Pruner!” He smiled at Trace, a wide grin.
Trace smiled back, warmly, before turning away to the setting sun, his deep purple eyes gleaming in the light of it, his posture seemed to change to be more relaxed. He looked back at the young boy.
“Have you no home, young one?” He asked. ‘Or do you wander, as I?”
“I have a home, but no parents.” Junas explained, pointing to the cottage. “They gave me that cottage down there, as well as this violin, when they passed.”
“I see, sadly I have no home, my home is where I go.” He sighed. “I have long wished for a traveling partner, though I have been granted one, he is quite annoying.”
“Oh?” Junas looked confused. “Why is he not with you at this moment?”
“I told him to wait at camp.” Trace explained. “I do not need him messing around in the city while I get what I need.”
“I see…” Junas sighed. “Do you mind if I accompany you?”
“No, I do not mind.” Trace smiled a touch. “I’d enjoy being in the presence of a youth once again.”
Junas smiled deeply and looked back at his cottage, thinking hard.
“Alright! Follow me!” He said cheerfully, running up the hill towards the province square.
Trace followed more slowly, and Junas kept looking back to be sure he was following. He finally reached the bustling Province Square, laughing in glee. He quickly noticed that the buildings seemed different today, they were decorated with color instead of the usual drab that the poor town had. He suddenly remembered, today was the Festival of Remembrance! The one day when it is said that the spirits of the past came to bless the town.
“Ho! Junas!” One of the merchants called. “You seem excited today, did you meet another traveler?”
“Yes I did Jake!” Junas grinned at the merchant.
Jake Krosel was a tall man with thick and curly blonde hair and came down to his neck, and glittering blue eyes filled with laughter, he had been a good friend of Junas since he was only just a child.
Jake grinned back and bent down to look at Junas more closely.
“You ready to perform at the festival?” Jake asked. “I talked the mayor into getting you a slot for the violin!”
“Wait, really!?” Junas’s eyes lit up at this.
“Well, your music always brings back memories, at least for me.” Jake chuckled. “I do believe your traveler is coming up now.”
Trace was bent over and catching his breath, but he smiled at Junas. “Young Junas! You are much too fast for my old bones to catch up with!”
“Oh! Mr. Pruner! I’m so sorry!” Junas cried out. “I didn’t mean to!”
Trace smirked a bit. “It is fine, young one.”
He ruffled Junas’s deep brown hair with vigor, grinning a bit, before looking over at Jake, whom was eyeing him with suspicion. To him he gave a irritated look but went back to paying attention to Junas.
“This land is in such beauty at the moment, is it perhaps a day of celebration?” Trace asked him.
Junas nodded and straightened his hair again. He looked at Jake again with a questioning looked.
“It’s the Festival of Remembrance.” Jake explained. “It’s a time when the province celebrates those whom lost their lives to protect this land.”
“Interesting…” Trace looked at the sky. “Is it tonight?”
Junas nodded smiling. “I’m performing!” He said proudly, before gently touching the violin strapped to his back, he had taken good care of it for ages, now he could finally play it for the people of the province!
Trace smiled brightly. “Then-”
An excited yell interrupted him and a young man flung himself onto Trace’s back, he was about Junas’s age, and grinned a bit, his eyes closed.
“Zal-” Trace said sternly. “I told you to stay at the camp.”
“But it got boring.” Zal, as Trace called him, whined. “And you were gone for more than an hour.”
Trace sighed. Zal had ginger hair and a spray of freckles across his face, he wore a red tunic with tan trousers, his eyes, a fiery yellow, like a tiger’s, seemed to glow. He added a feel to the air of burnt trees and ashes.
“Zal Numaro, I was about to come get you.” Trace snapped.
“I hate it when you pull the full name.” Zal huffed, biting his lip a bit.
Junas watched the two argue for a bit before hearing the bell, and running off to find the stage, he was bouncing a bit eagerly. Jake came and found him.
“Excited to finally be up there, eh, Junas?” Jake asked. “I’m sure you’ll do great up there, I’ll give you treat afterwards!”
“Ehhh I don’t need a treat, you’ve already given me one, the chance to be here instead of in my musty old cottage, eating bread like a child…” Junas said thoughtfully.
“My how you’ve grown!” Jake grinned.
Junas looked at him with a sad smile before turning back to the stage, looking at the banner with the province symbol, a large sundial with a ghost hovering over it. He sighed, looking back at Jake, who had a stressed look on his face. He put a hand on Jake’s shoulder, trying to comfort him.

Chapter 1 W.I.P: Junas Deracos, a young boy with a passion for old music, was walking through a pasture as the sun went up. He was humming a tune as he looked up at the old church on the hill, and then back at his dull cottage, sighing a bit. He carried an instrument, seeming to be a lyre, but it wasn’t, it was a violin. The land was in full bloom, pansies were opening, and the trees were green and full of small birds, nests full of chicks and mothers flying everywhere.
“Hello there, young one.” A strange voice said behind Junas, and he calmly turned to face who was speaking to him.
“Are you intending to speak with me?” He asked, before realizing it.
The person was a darkly cloaked figure, not normal for this era’s dress, under his cloak, only a slightly black beard was visible, it was obvious this man was an elder of some religion, because he wore some sort of symbol on an amulet around his neck, his gaze seemed cold though Junas could not see his eyes.
The figure spoke again. ‘Yes, I intend to speak with you, child.” His voice has harsh, and scratchy.
Junas’s sparkling green eyes flicked to the man’s belt, where it held an ancient sword, much like the ones hung on the wall of the province capitol. He tilted his head a bit and studied it a bit, before asking.
“Sir, how did you come across the sword at your side?” His voice held interest in it.
The man smiled beneath his hood, and his scarred hands went to the rim of it, and he pulled it down.
The man had long black hair that was graying at the roots, his eyes a deep purple, with a kind light in them. His jaw was chiseled and worn. Under his cloak he wore a worn tunic and trousers of a deep black color.

Its amazing :))

*Claping*

Accepted.

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group...

Theres a roleplay folder.

chapter 10:
When I woke up it took me a while to realize where I was, I had somehow slipped off the chair and was now laying on the floor. I rubbed my head a bit and sat up, my one blind eye narrowing a bit as the other one adjusted to the light of the ship. I was still in the ship, that was good, I hoped... I stood up and looked down, there was a note on the floor but it was scribbled quickly and unable to be read.
Unable to leave in a hurry and carry me, huh? Why were they leaving, was the ship under attack, or did they just leave me here for dead!? I thought angrily.
I stood up and looked through a window to see what was going on, it was completely silent, but there were First Order ships all around and there seemed to be no way out this one, even if I ran, I went over to the door to release the seal and fight my way out but a hand grabbed me and stopped me. I whirled around and realized it was none other then Max!
"Woah there little guy, calm down, I'm not gonna leave you!" I bent down to fully face the young, scared child.
Max seemed to stay silent and I sighed, not seeming to get it through to him, so I backed away from the door and instead of unsealing it, I barricaded it so nobody could get in. When that was done, everything seemed to fall silent as I realized there was much noise outside the ship, I peeked through the door’s slight window and saw a group of storm troopers trying to blast down the door, the world suddenly was filled with the sound of explosions and bangs, the door was starting to get dented. I seemed worried and ushered Max the cargo pit, my black Jedi robes seeming to move on their own even though I wasn’t moving.

Suddenly the door blasted open and I ignited my lightsaber, the red glow filling the room, I guess you could say I looked like a sith with all of my black attire, which was the message the troopers got, but they noticed that one of my eyes was white, or noticed something about me that made them recognize me, I didn’t fit any of the descriptions given when I didn’t have my hood up so it must’ve been the eyes…
On that note I quickly backed off and disappeared into the shadows, after turning off my saber and putting up my hood.
“It’s him! I’ll bet it’s him! The Jedi we’ve been looking for for the past three years!” One of them shouted.
I ignored all the chatter and kept on running, my red eye seeming to glow, I should’ve changed my hair to cover the blind eye, I was foolish on that front. I rounded a corner to the back hatch just to find it was also blow to pieces, I stopped suddenly and my hood flew back, revealing my face to the platoon of troopers, I noticed the figure in the front of the group, it was Captain Thrush.
“Well, Thrush, I thought I scared you and your troops away, but it seems not.” I growled softly. “What brings you to this ship?”
“I believe you know what brings me to this ship, Ghost Ravenwinter.” Captain Thrush responded calmly.
“Wow, you actually know my last name hm?” I scowled at him, my eyes narrowing.
Nobody for ages had known my last name, so how did Thrush know it?
“Listen, Thrush, I don’t want any trouble, Im just trying to find my friends, who seem to have abandoned me, again.” I tried to lie my way past.
“Oh? You mean these two?” Thrush smirked.
Without warning Sparky and Lucas appeared, bound and gagged in front of me. I didn’t know what to do so I stayed perfectly calm, though I was panicking inside. I tried not to show it but it must’ve slipped into my expression.
“HAH! So you do care about these two! Now where is our little storm trooper trainee you kidnapped, Ghost Ravenwinter.”
“For your information I did not kidnap him, he willingly came with me!” I snarled.
Max had obviously heard us arguing and slid up beside me, glaring straight at Thrush. Thrush seemed surprised that Max even dared show his face and I joined Max in the glaring.
“FN-230, get here right this instant.” Captain Thrush ordered.
“I have a name now, Thrush, and it’s Max.” Max snapped at Captain Thrush.
Thrush took a threatening step forward and Max backed away in fear, I reached towards him and he calmed down.
“‘Max.’” Thrush sighed. “Do you know what planet we found you on?”
Max shook his head and I tensed up, I knew there was something familiar about him.
“We found you on the planet of Batuu, crying over the dead corpse of your father, a man by the last name of Ravenwinter.”
“Ravenwinter….?” I suddenly had a flashback that lasted for a second. “No, it can’t be, my brother died with my father in that battle….” I started to mentally break down.
“Ghost….?” Max asked me.
I looked at Max, and fell to my knees, silently weeping.
“Grab him, he can’t do anything in the state he is in now.” Thrush ordered.
The troopers took my saber but rage suddenly washed over me and I stood up, bristling with anger and it seemed that my white eye turned black… pitch black. I threw some of the troopers to the side and picked up my saber after one of them dropped it.
“How… DARE YOU separate me and my younger BROTHER!” I yelled.
“QUICKLY! BIND HIM BEFORE HE BECOMES FULLY ENRAGED!” Captain Thrush shouted.
I suddenly collapsed as one of the blasters on stun hit me in the back, I could faintly feel my hands being bound, I tried to fight the unconsciousness flowing over me, but I failed. I failed my brother, I failed my father, geez I failed the entire universe on this little stunt!

Chapter 9:
We were simply just flying through space when the first shot hit us. I yelled and fired at the ship that attacked us, and sensed the presence inside of it.
"OH SNAP-" I yelped a bit. "That's Lucas and Max!" I gasped a bit as I finally recognized the cruiser, I manipulated the force to be back to talk to them through the comms.
"Lucas- Stop firing! It's me." I tried to convince Lucas.
"Ghost?" Lucas asked through the communication system. "Is that really you or are we getting a fake signal?"
I sighed and facepalmed.
"No Lucas, it really is me." I assured him.
on that note he opened the docking hatch and we entered.
"Well that was one feisty friend you had there, Ghost." Sparky remarked.
I opened the hatch and climbed out, before lifting BB-47 out of the slot.
"Yeah... they can get a bit.... overprotective." I shrugged as Max ran towards me and hugged my leg.
I smiled down at Max, he had been way too young to be a storm trooper so I was glad I had saved him. I looked over at the two droids chasing each other around, before looking at Sparky.
"Welcome to the crew, Sparky." I announced, as my old friend came off the jet.
Max looked scared as he stared at Sparky, and hid behind me. I looked down at him, then at Sparky.
"Max- there is no reason to be scared." I explained.
Sparky stood right next to me, his deep green eyes had a soft light in them, I remembered seeing that light when I was the same age as Max, when I had first met Sparky. Max slowly calmed down and looked up at the tall man, who then crouched down to looked at Max more clearly.
"Hey there, little guy." Sparky said softly, his green eyes had the light of laughter in them.
Max eventually got the nerves to go over to Sparky and glare at him before looking back at me.
"It's alright, Max." I said comfortingly to him.
Sparky looked from max to me.
"You two look very similar." Sparky noted. "Like you were.... brothers...." he stopped short on that note.
"Brothers....? No my brother has passed, I have an older sister though, her name was Ash..."
Sparky looked at me as I said that. "if you're sure about that." He shrugged and stood up.
I looked a bit confused and watched as Lucas came walking down, stopping dead as he saw the un-masked clone trooper, he drew his blaster and aimed it.
"Ghost... step away from him, now." He ordered me.
"Lucas, he's not any danger, he's an old friend of mine."
Lucas lowered his blaster and grumbled something. Sparky looked from him to me, confused.
"Lucas... This is Sparky, Sparky this is Lucas." I introduced the both of them to each other.
Sparky went over and shook Lucas's hand, his yellow and black armor clanking as he moved. I observed the armor more closely, it seemed to have rust on it... that was odd, Sparky never let rust get onto his armor... ever. I seemed to not realize it but I was moving closer to Sparky, and my hand was automatically moving towards my light-saber. Sparky turned around just in time to see this movement an put a hand on my shoulder, with the same soft touch the old clone trooper captain had.
"Ghost, you need some rest." He said and I sighed and nodded, walking towards the main room of the cruiser.
Lucas watched this whole affair and whispered something to Sparky, who nodded.
I sat down on a chair in the main room and watched as the droids were racing through the halls.
Well at least somebody is happy... I thought to myself.
My vision started to become blurry and I sighed a bit. I closed my right eye, which happened to be the good eye, and tried once again to see through my blind eye, which had become a pale white over the years... No matter how hard I tried, it still stayed completely black, I sighed and opened my right eye. Nothing would help my blindness now...
I suddenly got a flashback of how I became half blind...
I was neck deep in darkness, as part of my training, my master wanted me to practice fighting in pitch darkness, I lit my blue light-saber... and heard the snapping of an enemy sith. I whirled around and struck the sith just barely missing but my lightsaber got caught on his red one. We fought like this for hours on end, and at one point, he struck me right over my left eye and dragged the tip of his light-saber down across my eye and the made another mark, forming an X scar over my left eye. I yelped and at that minute, cut off his arm, he yelled and dropped his light-saber, which I bent down and picked up.
As I exited the forest my mentor ran towards me with worry.
"Ghost!?" he bent down in front of me, "Are you alright, little guy?"
For some reason that was all I remembered and I fell asleep midway through the flashback....

Chapter 8:
After about a month of surviving in a wasteland, me and BB-47 seemed to grow extremely close together. We were practically inseparable. He followed me everywhere, we had no exact base camp as we were always on the move, searching for any sign of life. Other than the normal wildlife, it seemed that no intelligent life had come here yet.

"This is one odd place." I said as we stopped near a pond, and BB-47 was testing the water with a mechanism and he beeped at me, saying it was safe.

I bent down near to the pond and refilled my canteen, I currently donned a light brown cloak, my skin a deep tan now that we had been out in broad daylight for so long, my deep red eye had grown keener now that I was depending on it for my next meal.

"Its an amazement the First Order hasn't come through and taken over the place, it would've been such an easy victory..." I muttered to myself, thinking out loud. "These days everything seems to be in the rule of them... It makes me sad to think of it that way but it's true...."

BB-47 made a sudden screech and I looked over. There was what seemed to be a large figure, stumbling towards us, the armor seemed... strangely familiar... It was yellow, with... black!? How was he still alive!?



"SPARKY!?" I yelled and ran towards my old friend, the tall, middle-aged man had wounds all over him but he smiled at me.

"Ghost.... You never change do you?" He touched his scarred hand to my cheek as he had done at the start of my Jedi training.

"S-sparky...."

Sparky silenced me with a gentle hug. And I cried on his shoulder. BB-47 scanned Sparky with great suspicion.

Sparky was about 6 foot tall, he had a scarred face but was somehow handsome at the same time, his hard green eyes seemed to soften at the sight of children, his fluffy blonde hair seemed like it was tempting you to touch it, but he snapped at anybody who touched his hair.

I looked over at BB-47 and shook my head indicating he was ok, and that he was a friend of mine. B-47 seemed reluctant but turned off the scanner. Sparky looked down at the droid and patted it on the head, letting go of me.

I looked at the two as it seemed that they knew each other, but if they did... then why did BB-47 seem nervous around Sparky?

"Sparky-" I said. "Is everything alright?"

Sparky looked back and nodded seeming to be just fine and stood up straight. "Come on, lets go to my ship." He gestured for us to follow him.

BB-47 and I followed him to his ship, a star-fighter jet. The jet ha just enough room as BB-47 went into the droid slot on the top. Sparky got in and motioned for me to come with. I hesitantly entered with no intention of getting trapped, once I saw that there was no need to worry about getting into any kind of fight, I slipped into the cockpit, behind Sparky.

"You ready, Ghost?" he asked me.

I nodded slightly, not wanting to anger him by asking questions, as Sparky was a very sensitive person when it came to his personal life. He didn't seem to notice and nodded and started the engine. I sat back and took control of the guns, as I could make sure we had no enemies left surviving. In case we got attacked, I focused most of my energy on sensing things instead of tensing up and waiting to spot something. This was going to be the beginning of a long journey...

Chapter 7: After six days without a ship, alone with a BB-unit droid, things get pretty lonely, but, not as lonely if you eventually find a ship.

We had been traveling for days, and I had put Sparky’s helmet in my satchel. As we traveled, I would usually sing a melody, not particularly with words though.
The minute we found the ship, I was amazed at its size. I entered the ship and looked around inside, and flipped a switch to make sure it still worked. Its engines sputtered but, sadly, didn’t get working.

I sighed in annoyance at the fact that it didn’t work properly and, in spite of the fact it was bolted to the wall, tore the switch off, and threw it into the sand out of anger. Why why why why why? Why can’t anything WORK? I’m sick and tired of this, I want to get out of this barren land, RIGHT NOW! I yelled at myself silently, as if it was my own fault I was here… little did I know, there was something dwelling in the ship…


As I went to go check our supplies something ran by, it was too fast to see clearly but it was not something I had any experience in dealing with...
"Hello?" I called out, hoping to hear a response... But I heard nothing.
Odd.... I thought. Normally people respond to me talking to them....
I went to investigate what was going on and found a wreckage of shipping crates.
"Hello....?" I asked again...
This time a strange noise sounded and I perked up, my jedi robes flowing a bit as I moved, walking towards the sound. I opened a door and peeked in, a small, strange creature looked up at me.
"Well you sure are an interesting sight..." I muttered, looking at the skinny creature, its strange skin seemed to make me gag a bit.
The strange creature seemed to leap up and run past me, it was barely the height of my knee, which is an understatement, as I was a tall man at this point.
"Hey- Wait!" I yelled and chased after it, turning on my red lightsaber and striking the ground, sending sparks flying, my red eye narrowed and I wished I wasn't half blind.
The creature ran out into the sunlight and I followed, just to find the creature no longer around, and a pile of dust on the ground.
"Odd.. BB-47!" I called my droid unit companion over. "Do you know anything about a creature that turns to dust in sunlight?" I asked it.
The BB unit seemed to shake its head and I sighed.
"Well I guess we'll never really know anything about it then." I whispered and sat up against the ship.
BB-47 snuggled close to me, the black and white BB unit beeping and screeing softly.
I sighed as this reminded me so much of how I seemed to cling to my father when I was younger...
"We're gonna be stuck here for a long time, little one..." I whispered.

Chapter 6:
I couldn’t handle the grief anymore, the death of my best friend just… shocked me. I mean, I knew he was a clone captain but the fact that I never got to see him again after I hit 14 and became a padawan… I just couldn’t handle it. As a matter of fact, I didn’t handle it. I spent no time grieving, and instead, went looking for some food, with a total of 5 days without food, I was starving.

As I went searching, I came across something black… I came back to take a closer look, it was a broken BB unit. It had been a while since I saw one, but I picked it up and took it back to the broken down LAAT.



For the rest of the day I was working on the BB unit and still worked throughout the night, thankfully my Jedi cloak protected me from the cold of the desert planet’s night.

I eventually got the unit back up and running, it made a small screee noise, as if it was thanking me. I smiled as it nuzzled up to me and I patted it’s round head.

“You need a number…” I thought outloud. “Perhaps… BB-47?”

The BB unit seemed to think about the name for a while and nodded happily.

“Alright! Let's get going then.” I led BB-47 out of the LAAT and into the desert.



We didn’t get much but I had found some fairly fresh food from a recent ship crash. I nibbled on the food and stuck my tongue out at the taste of it. At least it filled my stomach, it was better than starving, to be honest. I had also found an oil can and used my saber to cut open the top. After I cut off the top, I poured some into a container and let BB-47 do what he wanted with the oil. I didn’t really pay attention to him. I suddenly realized how jealous R6D8 would be if he saw how I was treating BB-47. I chuckled to myself and shook my head, not wanting to show any sign of weakness to any potential smugglers around the area, and I had a right to be this way, most people knew not to mess with a Jedi, but it has been so long since a Jedi last visited Jakku, they had probably forgotten about us by now.

approved.

lol RN its 13 chapters long.

posting it RN

Chapter 5:
I had done it, escaped, for the first time in many years!

The fact that I had actually pulled it off was amazing to me, I never thought I could do it, but I could.

As I was flying away, I could still hear the sound of Captain Thrush’s orders through the radio.

“GO AND FIND HIM! AND I SWEAR IF YOU COME BACK WITHOUT HIM YOU’LL BE THROWN IN THE TRASH DISPOSAL! TRAPPED WITH THAT CREATURE!”

Oh dear, I sure hope that so-called creature doesn’t eat them alive! I chuckled and thought to myself.

I eventually spotted a planet and went to land on it, it turned out to be the desert planet of Jakku.

The minute I landed on the planet, the shuttle popped open and I leapt out. I searched the land before finding someplace to hide, an abandoned LAAT ship.

I entered the abandoned ship and sat in a corner, as I looked around I kept on seeing clone armor, and I mean clone armor, not Stormtrooper armor.

There were pieces of armor with red stripes on them. Ones with orange and yellow. Even ones that were completely black and had yellow stripes.

One particularly caught my eye as I searched through the piles. It was an old clone captain piece of armor, completely yellow and with black stripes. I remembered a time when I saw somebody wearing that same armor, the day, years ago, when my father was killed. How I remembered that far I don’t know, but I clearly remember that.

The minute I touched the helmet I got a flashback.

It was the middle of the night, me and my father were out hunting for some of the native birds to the planet of Batuu. As we walked through a dense forest, we heard a crash, and gunfire. I hid behind my father in fright and he pulled out his old, almost rusted blaster.

“WHO ARE YOU?” My father yelled into the night. “AND WHY ARE YOU SHOOTING?”

A man, or atleast, I thought it was a man, stepped out. He wore a suit of yellow clone armor with black stripes.

I didn’t like this man, the minute I saw him, but he bent down to get a closer look at me.
I hid behind my father and whimpered a bit.

“C’mon, kiddo, I won’t hurt you!” The man said and took off his helmet, revealing a cheerful middle-aged man, in his 20’s.

I looked up at him in awe, and I marveled at the sight of his wavy, shoulder length hair, his piercing blue eyes, and a loving expression on his face. I reached up with one hand and poked his cheek, just to make sure he was real.

He laughed, a hearty, cheerful laugh, and smiled down at me, like I was a long lost younger sibling.

“What is your name?” my father asked the stranger.

“My name? It’s Sparky!” The man replied, calmly.

“Sparky!” I yelped, trying out the new word on my tongue. I was very young back then.

I snapped out of the flashback, and realized I was hugging the helmet.

“Sparky…” I said one last time. “Rest in peace, my friend.”