Sky lay flat on his chest with his head buried in his pillow, a cool damp sweat covering his body and hair. He was breathing heavily, his right hand clenching at his pillow. He muttered softly in his sleep, but nothing that was making any sense, his face seemed to tense up… …A loud screech…Bright lights….Heart pounding….Explosion ….BOOM!! His eyes flashed open and he gasped. "…Not again."
The morning sun shone down on his face, coming from his dorm window. He blinked his eyes a few times to take in his surroundings, as if he didn't know where he was. It took a few more soft breaths to ease his mind; it was as if he was trying to make sure he was in his room ….and not where he had been.
"….Man, my head's killing me…" he muttered to himself, as he turned his head to the other side of his bed, his eyes locked right onto the young woman lying next to him. If he was surprised by her being there, he didn't show it. He slowly moved his arm that was lying under her, getting it free, then used it to rub his eyes and ran his hand over his face and hair.
He sat up on his bed, grabbing his boxer-shorts and a pair of his workout pants along with his shoes and socks. A moment later he felt the warm touch of skin run down his back; if it affected him in any way he didn't show it. He turned his head around to look a red-haired, greened-eyed woman in the eyes, a bright warm smile on her face. "Good morning," she fluttered.
"….Morning," Sky answered dryly, as he stood up and went to his dresser to grab a clean red shirt and put it on.
"….You're going to go work out on a Saturday?" she asked him, as she sat up in the bed pulling the sheets up over her chest. She briefly looked at the clock over on his nightstand. "….At 7 A.M., no less?"
"Yeah," as if it was the dumbest question he had ever heard. "I get up and work out every morning," he answered her, as he grabbed his morpher from his dresser and put it on his belt harness. "It being Saturday isn't an exception…"
"Even after….." She got up off the bed, taking the sheets with her and wrapping them around her body, "Our fun last night?" She wrapped her arms around him and leaned in to kiss him deeply on the lips, with intentions of wanting to do a lot more. "…You did have a lot to drink," she teased him, as she started to caress his cheek, then running her hand down his arm, taking his hand into her own. "….Come back to bed."
Sky pulled away, taking a few steps back. "….Look, maybe I wasn't clear last night at the bar." This hadn't been the first time this had happened, she hadn't been the first he had brought back to the academy, to his room. He had been through this speech before, had it practically memorized word for word. "You don't want to get involved with a guy like me. I work twenty-four/seven, taking on as many assignments as I can and can be gone for weeks at a time." He bit his lip as he looked her in the eyes. "I'm not looking to get involved with anyone…."
She couldn't believe what she was hearing. How could he do this to her, after last night…? But then she had been warned by a few people at the bar not to go near him, no matter how good-looking he was; now she knew why. "…Well, this does explain why you wouldn't let me tell you my name." She looked back at him, disgusted. "…All you wanted out of me was one night, wasn't it?"
Sky didn't answer, just stood there with his stone-cold face, much different then how she had seen him last night, but then he had had a few drinks and a lot of other things on his plate. It wasn't like he did this sort of thing all the time, he never planned to bring anyone back with him, but he just got so hammered and couldn't help himself…..as if some part of himself didn't want to wake up alone.
She raised her hand and slapped him across the face when he turned his head away from her. "You cold-hearted-bastard!" she screamed into his face, as she cursed herself wishing she had listened to the other people at the bar. "…You're a real piece of work, you know that!"
Sky took the slap across the face and didn't even flinch, he had been slapped before, punched in the stomach and one time even had a lamp thrown at him. It was nothing new to him, he expected it to happen. He looked her in the eyes once more, this time softening them a bit, as if he never really intended to hurt her. "…I'm sorry," before heading out of his room to go for a run, with the doors sliding behind him.
Five young cadets watched as Lt. Sky Tate ran around the track, as if it were nothing to him, while they went about doing their morning stretches on the mats. They were between seventeen and nineteen and on the verge of entering into the Ranger program within the year, so it was only natural to observe the best of the best the academy had to offer.
"I've heard, that in the last four years alone, he has brought in like a hundred of the most wanted criminals throughout the galaxy," exclaimed Matt Jones, as he stretched his legs out. "…Even killed one of them."
"I heard it was more like three hundred…." Maxie Sanders claimed, as she did a series of sit-ups. "…..And I heard that criminal everyone thinks he killed, died in prison."
"Whatever…." Matt answered, not buying it; he knew it was against regulations for an SPD officer to kill any of the criminals they were trying to bring in, but in certain situations it was bound to happen. "And now that I think about it, I think it was two."
"….He is so hot!" exclaimed Brooke Rogers as she just stopped her routine and kept her eyes locked onto Sky, just admiring him from afar. Though she knew she didn't stand a chance with him, even though she was eighteen, it would be frowned upon greatly for a commanding officer and cadet to get involved and she knew for a fact that Sky Tate wouldn't break the rules for anyone. She saw all the glances her friends were giving her. "What? ….I can say he's cute."
"…Yeah. Okay." The oldest teen rolled his eyes, not beginning to understand how a girl like Brooke even got into the academy. She looked more like she belonged to some sorority than a Police Task Force. "….Well, I heard back when he was a rookie, that he did something so big, that the Commander despises him …but keeps him around, because he's too damn good at his job to kick out of the academy," exclaimed Luc Wilder as he did a series of push-ups. He had joined the academy about three and half year ago and was not a big fan of Sky Tate, sure the guy was good at his job, but Luc had heard several not too positive things about everyone's so-called hero. "If you ask me, the guy's not all he's cracked up to be."
"Hey." Matt glanced over at their other teammate who had his back to them, as he was stretching out his arms. He had been quiet throughout their whole discussion of the great Sky Tate. "…You've been at the academy for the longest, what do you know about Sky Tate?" Though it was just a few more months than Luc, he thought perhaps their young friend could provide something they might not know about Lt. Tate.
The young seventeen year old with short red hair turned around to face his friends. "…Just that he's ….the best," he answered. He turned back around to finish with stretching his legs and for a moment glanced over at Sky who was several feet away catching his breath from a long hard run.
"Come on, Gates; don't tell me you buy into the whole 'Lt. Tate, the greatest' shit…." Luc exclaimed.
The young teen sighed heavily, not answering Luc's comment - he knew far more than he was letting on about Sky Tate. But for his own reasons he kept what he knew to himself. Over the years every rumor imaginable had spread around the academy about the great Sky Tate, some were true; some were close to being the truth, while others weren't even close to being true and some were just bold-faced lies.
A little more than an hour later Sky returned to his room, now empty, with no trace of the young redheaded woman that he had shared a night of passion with, if you could call it that. He grabbed a water bottle from his mini fridge and took a few swigs out of it before tossing it on his bed and then grabbing his boxing gloves. He took a few quick punches at his punching bag hanging from the ceiling, and with each punch the pace grew more rapid.
Rapid flashes ….BAM ….a body drops to the ground… Punch…. Punch…. Everything's spinning…. Punch….. Punch…. He hears cries for help, but can't reach them…. Faster…. Faster…. Punch…. Punch….. Explosion…. Nothingness…. Punch….. Punch…..Punch…. Until he could punch no more. Exhausted, Sky fell face forward, grabbing hold of the punching bag. "…Damnit!" he took a hard punch at the bag. "..Stop it… Just stop it, you idiot," he muttered under his breath.
"….So who was she this time?" asked Kat as she entered into Sky's room carrying a clipboard in her hand, going about her rounds of the base, making sure everything was in order. She wasn't new to Sky's habit that would start out with him going out to the bar, getting wasted and end up bringing some girl back with him. She would always be working late at night in the lab, and always spotted Sky returning to the academy with some girl wrapped around his body, giggling and kissing him heavily trying to get his shirt off, as they entered into his room.
"She was nobody," he answered as he went back to his routine, wishing to himself that Kat would just leave. This was another thing he had become accustomed to: Kat questioning his behavior, almost like clockwork she would show up trying to be motherly to him. "…Just a girl I met at a bar."
"It's always some girl from the bar."
"Your point?" Sky eyed her sharply, knowing where this was going. He wasn't a child or a low ranking D-Squad Cadet anymore. He didn't have to answer to her. What he did on his own time was his own damn business and no one else's. "….Why do you even care what I do? You're not my mother."
Kat sighed heavily, knowing that this was a hard time for Sky, it had always been and probably always would be. "It's been four years, Sky …..and what you're doing-"
"-If you got a problem with my extra curricular activities, Kat..." He got right into her face, feeling a rush of anger and irritation come over him, as if any second now he would blow up at her and rip her apart. "Take it up with Commander Cruger!" He tossed off his gloves onto his bed. "Otherwise just stay out of what's not any of your damn business, because it doesn't concern you!" He looked her hard in the eyes, as he brushed against her shoulder to exit his room.
Kat turned, watching him go with a sadness in her eyes that looked like it had been there for a very long time. "…What's happened to you, Sky?" But then she knew what had happened to him….
"So how goes the rounds, Dr. Manx?" asked Cruger as he looked up from his post in the Command Center to see Kat walking up to him.
"You need to talk to him, Doggie," she exclaimed.
Cruger sighed heavily, knowing very well what Kat was talking about. It had to do with Sky's extra activities, something he knew very well about; almost everyone in the whole academy knew. "As I've told you before, what Sky does on his own time is none of my business. He's twenty-four; he is quite capable of making his own decisions."
"Am I the only voice of reason in this place anymore?" she exclaimed, knowing full well that if it were any other cadet, that Cruger would not approve at all of what Sky was doing, but ever since….
"Excuse me?" he growled, looking her hard in the face, not liking her tone or her questioning his authority. "I am the Commander of this base. I think I know when to stand my ground with one of my officers!"
"So you're okay with him going out and getting himself drunk to the point that he can't even think straight, bringing a different girl back with him each time, just to have something that come morning will be meaningless?" she exclaimed, getting close to being hysterical.
"I have no control over what he does on his own time."
"Will you listen to yourself!" she snapped. After four years of this, she was sick and tired of it. Things needed to get back into order. Sure they had defeated Gruumm, and had done a number of great other things, but this thing between Sky and Cruger needed to stop, to be put an end to. She got right into his face, wanting to make her next words perfectly clear to her old-time friend. "Things with you and Sky have not been the same since that day…" It had been the worst day of all of their lives. The day when everything had changed in ways none of them thought would ever happen.
She sighed heavily, seeing that distant and grief-stricken look in his eyes. "You don't ever talk to him outside of it being an assignment or mission." She seemed to be near tears, because it was pure torture for her having to witness all of it happening before her eyes. "You don't look at him the same…."
Though it broke his heart seeing Kat in so much torment, it just wasn't enough for him to see past everything…. "It's just the way things are, Kat. After that day, it changed all of us…."
"Yes it did." She smiled faintly as she set her reports in front of him. "…But how long will this thing between you two go on? How long before one of these missions kills him?" She paused for a moment, a lump in her throat. "How long before we really lose Sky?" she questioned him. Her face became even more serious. "Because we're losing him, Doggie. Each year that passes by, he gets worse and worse, and farther away from us. …I'm afraid one day he'll get his wish."
"I…." Doggie bowed his head…..
He and Sky were in the Command Center. He'd had to lecture Sky in the past, but never like this. His once prized cadet, that he had so much hope for, just stood there, his head bowed down with grief. "I have never been more disappointed with you than I am today. This was the worst possible time for your selfishness and your arrogance. Your actions were careless, reckless, and irresponsible…. I cannot be held responsible for what you allowed to happen, I won't! This is on you…."
"Yes sir…" Sky answered, but never meeting his commander's eyes.
He knew Kat was right, Sky hadn't gotten any better, not with everything that had happened. He just hadn't been able to look Sky in the eye the way he used to, hadn't been able to talk to him. "….I'm sorry, Kat, but… I just can't anymore." He turned away. "….not with him."
"Can't? …or wont?" she questioned him. She just shook her head, sighing heavily, as she looked him right in the eyes. "You'll never forgive him, will you?" She just couldn't believe it after all this time, after how many years had gone by. "…Sky knows what happened was his fault and makes sure that a day doesn't go by that he forgets that …but he doesn't need you to remind him of his mistake." She turned away and started out of the Command Center, but before she walked through the sliding doors she turned to look at him. "Isn't it enough that for the rest of his life he has to live with his guilt?"
Sky let the hot water run over his body, he closed his eyes as he raised his head up, drenching his face with the water and letting it roll down his back. After a long hard work-out this morning, it was just what he needed to wash everything away, so he could finish up the rest of the day and put it behind him, to start again tomorrow. It had been four years ago today since his life had changed, changed in a way he never thought possible. He was where he wanted to be with his career, red Ranger, top of the academy, had brought in a number of criminals over the years, he had taken on risky and deadly missions. He was the most feared SPD officer throughout the galaxy, much like his father had been. No one would dare mess with The Great Sky Tate, not if they wanted to live to tell about it.
The water continued to run down his body, he kept his eyes closed, as a memory of that very day came back to haunt him, as it did every year and every day of his life, as if the water had some effect of replaying a memory he wished to just wash away…..
Sky ran through the sandy mountainside as the wind began to pick up, the sky began to darken as rain started to pour down, violent lightning struck the ground around him causing massive sparks, enough to start a fire, rain began to pour down hard. He could hear voices calling out his name, screaming for help, but every direction he turned, no one was in sight, only smoke and fire. Blaster shots and explosions could be heard in the distance, he tried calling out their names, but no answers came, the planet began to shake rapidly, the ground began to crack…. He looked at his bloodstained hands, he was mortified …He could feel his heart racing… Pounding against his chest…. His eyes widened in fear when he saw the ground around him opened up, all the way through the crust, red hot magma emerging within it. He ran, trying to locate where the voice came from….
"Hey, you almost finished in there? You've been in there for the last half-hour!"
Sky shook his head as the voice broke through his memory. He opened his eyes and ran a hand over his wet face. "Yeah. I'll be out in a minute." He reached up and turned off the shower before grabbing his towel and wrapping it around his waist and exiting his shower.
"….Oh, sorry, Lt. Tate, I didn't know-"
"Don't worry about it. The shower's all yours," answered Sky as he headed over to the mirror to shave, allowing the young cadet to have the shower he had been in. For a moment he just stared in the mirror, no longer recognizing the man staring back at him. He opened up his small pack and took out his razor and shaving cream; he rubbed the cream over his face and then went about shaving with the razor…..
"What are you doing in here? …You do know this is the guys' bathroom, right?" asked Sky, as he saw Syd's reflection in the mirror while he shaved. "…You know you could get in a lot of trouble for this."
"…And I suppose you'll be the one to tell Commander Cruger," she exclaimed as she watched him shave, giggling to herself.
"What's so funny?" a little annoyed.
"You're doing it wrong."
"Excuse me?" He turned to her. "I've been shaving for a while now, I'm pretty sure I know what I'm doing." He went back to shaving and then cut himself, a little bit of blood dribbled down his cheek.
"Uh huh… You were saying, hot shot…?"
"If you hadn't distracted me, this wouldn't have happened."
"You just keep telling yourself that…" She took the razor out of his hand and stood in front of him.
"What do you think you're doing?"
"I'm going to show you how it's done." She looked him firmly in the eyes. "Now just stand still."
"Syd…." But it was no use, once she made up her mind on something there was nothing you could do to stop it.
Syd careful shaved away all the hair on his face. "There…" She looked up at him and smiled. "Now that wasn't so bad, was it?"
"You all right, sir?" asked an SPD officer, as he joined him by the mirror. He had been at the academy for about six years and though he and Lt. Tate never really had hung out much, he did know him well enough to know when something was wrong.
Sky cleaned off the razor in the sink and then put it away. "…I'm fine, Danny," he answered before exiting the bathroom to go and make his daily rounds around the academy before heading to the mess hall to grab some lunch.
Sky set his tray of food onto an empty table and took a seat alone, away from everyone else. His rounds had gone well: checking up on cadets, making sure everything was in order and that Boom hadn't blown anything up today. If it were any other day, he would consider it to be a good one. He started to cut his apple when one of the cadets sat down across from him.
"Hey Sky…." he announced. Sky didn't answer, but did acknowledge the young cadet's presence with a small nod, as he ate a piece of his cut off apple. "How you holding up today?"
Sky's eyes darkened a little, but this wasn't the time or the place for him to be lashing out. The teen had nothing to do with what was going on with him. "….Is there something you need, Sam?"
Sam bit his lip; every year he would ask that question and every time Sky would come back with the same answer, but in years past he had never needed anything, but this time there was something. "…I'm sure that you are aware that next year is when Commander Cruger will be selecting members from the B-squad to enter into the Ranger track program."
"Yeah…." Sky answered dryly, as he took a sip of his water.
"And, well, I've been having a little trouble with my training and my scores. ….I was wondering …if you had the time, maybe you could train me?" he asked hopefully.
Sam's eyes were basically begging him to say yes. Sky had to turn away, because for a moment he saw little twelve year old Sam looking back at him, an image he wanted to get out of his mind because of what it did to him. He sighed heavily. "….Don't you think someone else would be more suitable for you?" he answered as he turned back.
"Maybe." Sam licked his lips. "But you are the best and I want to become the best, like you."
Sky stared at his food tray. No longer hungry, he pushed it away and looked up at Sam with very little emotion. "I'm only the best because I don't allow myself to become attached to anyone. I don't have to be worried with what I'm leaving behind, because if I don't make it back, it won't matter. That's why I am the best, Sam…" He stood up from his seat. "…You should find someone else to train you. Sorry, but I can't help you."
Sam sighed heavily as he watched Sky leave. This is what their relationship had turned into, much different from when he had first arrived at the academy all those years ago, but things had changed since then. And he knew why Sky kept him at a distance, never letting him in, but he had hoped that with time he would be able to break through that and get his friend back. But it seemed clear to Sam, now, that too much had happened.
Sky walked down the prisoner visiting room, where visitors and those imprisoned could talk to each other. Sky took his seat and waited for the guard to bring the prisoner he wanted to speak with. He started to rub his right wrist, which had a small scar that he had gotten years ago. A moment later, an all too familiar face showed up and sat across from him, with a smirk on his face.
"Is it that time of the year already?" Dru grinned. He was an old friend of Sky's back from his early days at the academy. "My, how the time flies…"
Sky didn't answer as he continued to rub his right wrist and stared down at his scar….. Sky ran down the SPD halls, blaster in hand, as if his life depended upon it, his heart racing, and fury burning within him. And then he spotted him… "Dru, stop!" His voice echoed. He raised his blaster up, pointing it at his friend.
Dru turned around, his face emotionless, with a blank uncaring stare as he looked right back at Sky.
"Tell me it isn't true… Tell me Boom was wrong…"
Dru chuckled under his breath. "Sorry to disappoint you, Sky, but for once that incompetent lamebrain is correct…"
A surge of hurt and feeling of betrayal crossed over Sky's face. He felt like he was going to be sick, as the feeling hit him right in the pit of his stomach. He couldn't believe it. He wished this was just all some horrible nightmare. His hands shook around the trigger of his blaster. "Why! ….Tell me why, Dru… Why them? Why Mirloc…." He struggled with all his might to hold it all together. "Why….."
"-Easy, my friend," smirked Dru, as he clasped his hands behind his back. "For money and power. Mirloc and Wootox were able to provide me all that and more…" he gloated.
"He killed my father, Dru… And you let him out." He bit his lips. "I trusted you!"
"Yes, well ….you can never be too careful about who you trust, now can you?" He grinned. "….You should have listened to Jack."
Sky tensed up and tightened his hands around the blaster. "You're under arrest!"
"I don't think so." Before Sky could even react Dru moved his hands so quickly from behind his back to reveal a blaster of his own, and quicker than lightning shot at Sky, hitting him directly in the wrist, making contact with the very object that represented the friendship the two had once shared.
Sky dropped to the ground clutching at his injured wrist, watching as Dru hovered over him. Dru bent down and picked up a piece of the bracelet he had given Sky years ago, no longer meaning anything to him. He tossed it in his former friend's face. "Next time you come after me, only one of us will walk away." His eyes sneered down at Sky. "…And don't think I won't hesitate to kill you."
Sky sighed heavily as the memory faded away. "How's prison life treating you, Dru…." Sky asked, ignoring Dru's impending mocking question.
Dru just shook his head. Every year at exactly the same time Sky would show up wanting a visit with him. It had become a tradition. "How's yours, Sky? …Cruger still keeping you around?" he joked, laughing to himself. He clasped his hands together, giving Sky a cunning smile. "So who was the girl this time? ….some cute, nice assed blonde?"
"…Leave her out of this?" he snapped.
"Do you really think you ever stood a chance with her?" he questioned his old friend. "I probably did you a favor…." He watched as Sky tensed up, anger burning in his eyes. Dru just shook his head in a mocking way. "Why do you torture yourself, Sky? Year after year you come here, asking the same questions over and over. Do you really believe that I will provide you with answers as to why… to ease your agony?" He knew Sky far better than anyone, maybe even better than Sky himself, which gave him the advantage. "The answer is as it always has been, for money and power, the pure enjoyment of watching death first hand." He leaned closer across the table against the clear window, a big smirk on his face. "And I have you to thank for that…."
'….You bastard!" Sky clenched his fists together, slamming them against the counter. He could feel anger burn within him, his stomach began to twist and turn, making him feel sick. But he would not allow himself to break down in front of Dru, he would not show weakness.
Dru stood up from his seat, smirking back at Sky. "Guess I'll see you same time next year."
Sky remained seated for just a few minutes longer, with his head bowed down, with Dru's very words replaying over and over in his mind. '…And I have you to thank for that'. "Damnit!" He slammed his fist against the table. "…Damnit! …..Damnit!"
He turned up the speed on his bike, hoping that the faster he went, the faster the day would go by. The day seemed to just drag on and on, seconds felt like minutes, and minutes left like hours, and hours felt like days. He just wanted the day to end, to be over; for a whole another year to start.
"A robbery was reported on Bunker South Street; all personnel please respond," came a voice from Sky's bike radio.
He tapped on his helmet where there was a small speaker. "This is Lt. Tate. I'm just a few blocks from there."
"Copy that, Lt. Tate, we'll send a team in to join you…."
"Negative, by the time they arrive I will have the situation under control. Lt. Tate out." He tapped on his helmet once more to end the transmission. Sky sped down the street, heading in the direction of where the robbery was taking place. It wasn't long before he locked his eyes onto one of the robbers running out of the bank. Sky headed straight towards him and then lifted up his leg, kicking the robber to the ground before coming to a full stop and jumping off his bike.
"What the hell is your problem!" exclaimed the robber as he jumped to his feet.
"You…" Sky tossed his helmet to the ground and went for the robber, arms and legs flying. The robber managed to get one good punch at Sky's face, but would soon come to regret it. "You picked the wrong guy to mess with!" Sky moved quickly, turning his body for a round kick, kicking the robber right in the head and knocking him down to the ground.
The robber angrily pushed himself to his feet and ran straight towards Sky, but only to be smacked right in the face with one of Sky's shields. The robber dropped to the ground; this time he didn't dare get up. Sky hovered over him, pointing his blaster right at him, eyes narrowed down at him. "You're under arrest." He pulled the robber to his feet and cuffed him.
Sky returned to the academy, prisoner in hand, and turned him over to two cadet officers to take him into confinement, as he headed off to watch a group of the cadets in the simulation room through a one-way glass. Inside he found both Kat and Boom observing.
"Hey Sky, heard you caught that robber that's been holding-up all the local banks this past month," exclaimed Boom. "…All on your own, no less, that's great!"
"….Or reckless," commented Kat, as she looked up from her clipboard over to Sky.
Sky tightened his face, not wanting to get into another conversation about what he did with Kat. He decided to shift the conversation onto something else. "….So how are they doing?" he asked, as he walked closer to the glass to get a better look.
"Good," noted Kat, looking down at her clipboard where she made all the observations. "The scores are all high …but Sam's could use some improvement if he is to be considered for the Ranger track program. He has it in him, he just needs more training." She eyed Sky.
"I already told him no. I don't think it's a good idea for me to train him." He turned to Kat, crossing his arms against his chest. "I suppose you're the one who put him up to it?"
"No, I did not! If Sam asked you, it was all him," she exclaimed, not liking his tone, but would let it slide considering what today was. "But I'm not surprised that he asked you. He looks up to you, Sky, he always has…"
Sky bowed his head down, sighing, as he turned away and looked back through the glass. His eyes locked onto Sam, who was fighting against one of the simulation foes; he was a good fighter, but showed some struggle. "…Well, he shouldn't…"
….Sky bent down on his knees in front of Sam, his face saddened, his uniform torn and covered in blood, a lump in his throat as he was eye to eye with little Sam. The young boy stared at Sky and looked up to Cruger, who was standing behind Sky, his arms crossed against his chest. Sam looked back to Sky. "…What's wrong…"
Sky didn't answer, just bowed his head down, unable to tell the young boy. Cruger's voice would leave him with no chance at getting out of it. "…You have to be the one to tell him, Sky…"
Sky sighed heavily as he took a deep breath and looked back up to the boy, trying to stay as strong as he could. "…Sam, I…."
"Sky…." Kat started to reach for his shoulder, but Sky pulled away, not wanting her sympathy. She sighed heavily, as she walked over to the wall communicator. "End simulation…. Great job cadets, that's it for today…" Kat turned around, hoping to catch Sky, but he was already gone. She looked over to Boom who smiled faintly, shaking his head.
It was quiet as a large group of people consisting of cadets, officers, SPD scientists and other SPD personnel stood outside. They all gathered around a large monument where a flame was slowly burning; some of them stayed there long enough for the four bells to sound off, echoing off into the distance. Some stayed for a few minutes longer, but just as the sun began to set only a few remained. Sky stood in front of the monument wearing a pair of sunglasses, standing tall, in just a few more hours the day would end and it would be tomorrow and four years would have gone by.
He bowed his head down and stared at the inscription that had been placed on the monument as a reminder. It was something he had implanted in his mind and would always have there. He would never be able to forget, no matter how much time would pass by. It was and would always be his curse, his prison…
And just like every year since the first, he felt the presence of the lone shadow behind him, keeping his distance. He didn't need to turn around to know who it was; they had always been the ones to stay until the flame went out.
"I will train you…. But only on three conditions…. The last condition, don't ever complain about how hard I push you or how tired you will get or how bad it hurts… The second condition, don't ever question me… You may not like what I have to say or even agree with me, but I don't want to hear about it. ….And the biggest condition, the most important out of the three, that once you make it into the program and become a Ranger, that's it. I am not looking for a sidekick. I walk alone, Sam." A few moments passed with nothing said between the two, as Sky cleared his throat. "Is that understood?"
"….Yes sir," answered Sam.
"Good." He never once turned to face Sam, just kept still the entire time, keeping up his stone wall, never letting his guard down. "Now, you better head in for the night, because tomorrow you and I are getting up bright and early to start your training."
"Yes sir!" Sam saluted Sky, full well knowing that Sky's main reason for saying that last part was that right now he wanted to be alone. In years past he would always say something to get him to leave and every time Sam would obey. He just hoped that one year Sky would let him remain there and open up more about the day he knew haunted his friend and probably would always.
Sky gulped in heavily, trying to stay in control as he watched the flame burn out. All he allowed was one single tear to fall…
'In honor and great gratitude for our fallen officers. You will always be heroes in our eyes. You will forever live on in Space Patrol Delta's memory.' It was followed with four names…. 'Jack Landers, Elizabeth Delgado, Bridge Carson, and Sydney Drew'
"…I'm sorry, guys. I failed you…"