Ezra's P.O.V
I woke up this morning, recovering from the events of Malachor, remembering that today was a major day. It was Alex's birthday today, and when I thought of it today, it was a shame that we lost him back on that dessert planet, knowing well that the birthday of our friend was going to be somewhat of a sad one since he wasn't here with us anymore. Just thinking about that memory of when we lost Alex made me give into sadness, especially with me now grieving over the loss of one of my closest friends in the galaxy on his birthday.
He would have been about 18 or so, me still thinking about that terrible memory back on that planet.
Flashback
The mission was simple. Move on that major imperial weapons depot, grab the weapons needed for the boys back at the fleet, blow the facility, and then get the heck out of there. It was easier said than done alright.
We now had the weapons that we needed, and the explosives were set. All that we had to do now was fight our way back to the Ghost.
"Keep me covered, my pistol's overheated!" Alex ordered us, switching to his wrist blasters in cover. At that moment, I went in, using my lightsaber to take it to them, swinging away, deflecting blaster shots, bringing the troopers down. "Clear. Move up, guys." I ordered the group, us moving out.
When we got into another part of the halls of the facility, the doors opening up. "Blast them!" one of the stormtroopers ordered, us taking cover. We opened fire back on them, until a blaster shot hit one of us. Alex groaned when a blaster shot hit his shoulder, him covering it up, and trying his best to fight.
"Alex!" I exclaimed after witnessing that. "Don't worry about me, Ezra! I will be fine!" he responded, using his pistol in his left hand to deliver some kills to some troopers while he covered his shoulder with his other hand. We dropped them successfully, and we were outside of the facility now, about to get on the Ghost.
"Cover me. It's gonna take a while for the Ghost to start up." Hera informed us, her getting inside the freighter while the rest of us prepared to cover her. I'm honestly surprised that Alex was willing to still keep on fighting despite his condition. The troopers eventually came at us, blasters firing, and the rest of us fighting back.
After about five minutes of fighting, the Ghost was ready to go, all of us getting back in, until Alex got shot again in the same shoulder. He collapsed on the ground, groaning in pain. "Alex, I got you!" I said, using my powers to try to get him in here. "No, Ezra. I'm not gonna make it. Put me down." he ordered. "Why!? So that you could die out here?!" I questioned him. "Not dying. Taking one for the team." I felt my eyes starting to tear up after that, and that was when I put down Alex after my arm started getting tired, and he began firing back.
I got more teared up as I saw my friend about to die in those final moments of his life while we took off from the surface, me still seeing him through the force on the ground, wounded and firing still. Eventually, another stormtrooper shot him in the other shoulder, and then he was gone.
I was in immense emotional pain, and so were all of us, not willing to accept that Alex's life had been taken by the Empire. I was enraged beyond belief about that, and we all were tearing up on our way back to the fleet. Eventually, all of us just released our emotions in the common area.
Later that night
We were all going to sleep, still upset over losing Alex, the grief still fresh within us. But before I went to bed, I went to Sabine's room after sensing her emotions through the force, and decided to go in her.
When I came into her room, she was looking at a picture set up on her top bunk, and was crying. I came up to her, putting my arm around her, both of us hugging each other to comfort the both of us through this tough time. After what felt like an hour of us grieving in her room, I was about to head out back to my room, just not before I took a look at the picture set up on the top bunk, and it was Alex. Sabine must have set that picture up to remember her roommate, friend, and fellow member of the Ghost. I teared up again as I kept on starring at the picture, and so was Sabine, and then we went back to hugging each other. She cried into my shoulder, I cried into her shoulder, and it was that way for a while, to the point where we went to sleep in our rooms after a while.
I lay down on the top bunk, still upset and emotional, and tried my best to go to sleep. But I kept on seeing Alex through the force in my sleep, the both of us in happy memories. The time when we first met, the time when he completed his first mission with us, the time when he, me, and Sabine fell asleep in her room after watching a movie late at night the three of us, etc, all of that was there. I had trouble sleeping over those memories, and it continued to feel that way until the next morning.
I didn't sleep as well since I was grieving in my sleep that night, and so were the others. But, even though one member of the team may be gone, we weren't going to let it slow us down. We were going to continue fighting for Alex, and we were going to keep on fighting for him and everybody we lost. Alex may be gone, but we are still not going down without a fight for the honor of our friend.
Present day
It was later night time, and we came around in the common area where Sabine got that same photo of Alex that she had for a while in her room, and placed on the table, lighting up candles as I dimmed the lights with the force. We all had a moment of silence, thinking of our friend on his birthday, then all of us said something about him, how great of a person he was, and how he cared a lot about his friends and family and not just himself. After I went, I teared up, and we all did a bit.
After that moment, we went to sleep for the night. I lay in bed that night, still thinking about Alex. "Happy Birthday, Alex." I said, feeling a bit of a small smile as I thought about the great times we had, then went to sleep.
A few days later
I woke up from my slumber after needing to go to the bathroom one night, in which I went, and then started strolling around the Ghost to get something off my mind. I walked back in the halls where the quarters were, and when I saw who else it was walking in, next to Sabine, my brain felt a huge amount of shock.
It couldn't have been him, it just couldn't have. This has to be too good to be true. It was Alex, he's alive! But how?
Something changed about him though. He was wearing black armor, was carrying a metal sword on his back, wearing his wrist blasters on his wrists as they were his preferred weapons, was carrying a helmet, which wasn't Mandalorian, in his arm, and had a whole new look to him. I also noticed that he grew out his beard a tiny, tiny bit.
After seeing him, I just couldn't resist to talk to say my first words in a while to my old friend who I thought we lost a year ago on that planet. "Alex! What are you doing here? I thought you were dead." were my words to him, and I was extremely glad to have him back with us.
