It was late on his first night back when Warp was clocking out, putting his space suit away, when he looked over spotting a rookie come to a halt then typed in a name into the locker; Harriet Burgain. The text appeared brilliantly before the darkness of the locker name and Warp watched as the text appeared against the dark background feeling pain, heartache, and misery. A new name, a new Ranger, Buzz's locker wasn't Buzz's locker, it was someone else's locker. Buzz was gone, he had died twice saving Warp. And Warp wanted him to come back, make a scene, so badly, about it. But, Buzz couldn't.
The captain couldn't speak with the emotional pain gripping him, his mind, his heart, and his soul. It was as if watching Buzz's house be emptied then someone else's furniture move in and a very single individual moved in afterwards.
Burgain turned in the direction of the older Space Ranger.
"What are you looking at, sir?" Burgain asked.
"That was his locker." Warp said.
"Oh! I share a locker with THE legend?" Burgain exclaimed.
"Affirmative." Warp confirmed with a nod looking toward the locker. "He was a great guy."
"What was it like serving with him?" Burgain asked.
"The greatest days of my life." Warp admitted, shifting aside, away. A thrill, sweet, fun, and entertaining. "And it hurts inside, th-ha-that, that's it over."
"Hey, maybe you could make him proud." Burgain said.
"Proud?" Warp set his hands on his hips lifting a brow, incredulously. "Anything but proud," he shook his index finger. "he's going to be so annoyed watching his ex-partner continue to live while he doesn't and slacking off on his reports."
"Where I'm from, my people, we, we have this religion, it helped us through a hell of dark times, even it comes at a cheesy price," then she pointed up toward the ceiling drawing the older Space Ranger's attention. "up there, our ancestors, our lost ones, they're looking down on us, or, in some interpretations, they never really left us, they just went on to a new form, watching us grow, watching us ache, watching us be happy, watching us move on, and they're so proud of us for how we go."
"You are right, Rookie." Warp replied with a smirk. "it is very cheesy."
"I'm not done yet." Burgain said. "Evil, neutral, mean, bad, good, sweet, kind, it doesn't matter up there in what nature our acts are; it's how we march on in their eyes that matter and they ache, they still smile, they still cry when we cry, even when we can't hear them. . ." Warp folded his arms as he listened to the rookie."Our cultures are different; your people, from your homeworld, think that they're in the snow, in the matter, in the wind, in the water, that means they're still part of you no matter what happens, never mind dumping the corpses into the water as part of the funeral ritual, and for Morph people, like Buzz Lightyear kind of folks, they're in the soil, recycled, they grow with us in different forms. But what unites us all; the people that we lost, they're not truly gone, not as long as we remember them."
"And Lightyear?" Warp asked. "Where do you think he is?"
"His remains are still traveling in space, and whoever finds his corpse, they'll know, that he was deeply loved and decorated. And you, and Star Command, and nana, they live on with him."
Warp was quiet as Burgain set her hands on her hips.
"Now, that isn't too cheesy putting into a bunch of words that make more sense." Now it were her turn to smirk.
Warp had a laugh at the comment.
"It does." Warp admitted, then looked upon the young Space Ranger. "You're on the skeleton shift."
"Affirmative, sir." Burgain confirmed with a salute.
"By the way, if you're lucky, first day of duty as a night bird might have Zurg."
"Hm?" she lifted her brows, her features etched in concern, as if caught by surprise. "He has evil schemes at night?"
"Recently, he's gone off road." Warp said.
"It's hitting him harder." Burgain noted.
"That he won?" Warp turned away then roamed on as he clenched his hands into fists with his head held high. "Not sure about that."
Burgain looked toward the locker then began to put in a photograph of a kid that she knew at Ballis Prime who had dreams of being a Space Ranger who she saved during her cadet years.
A/N I realized I hadn't written a chapter about a rookie taking Buzz's locker.