(A/N: Okay guys, I know I don't normally write one of these Author Notes at the beginning of a chapter, but this time, I find it to be necessary. I'm sorry I haven't updated in so long, it's just that I've been really busy with school, friends, and other crap, so that's why this chapter is so late. I'll try my best to write more often. ~Dray)

Sparklez's expression changed to a frown, as he could already tell where this was going. "Tell me what it is, then."

Rain cast her line of sight slightly away from the older Minecraftian, keeping him in the very edge of her peripheral vision. "It... It's about what happened with you... in the forest eariler..."

The Captain fell silent, trying to think of how he could explain what had truly happened to the young child. She glanced curiously at him, studying the stone-cold look in his dark blue eyes. "Sparklez, it's okay if you don't want to tell me..."

He snapped to attention after hearing her voice. "It's fine. I guess I really should explain this to someone else, rather than avoiding it."

Sparklez paused for a while, before speaking again. "You've heard the story of Herobrine before, right?"

Rain blinked, unsure of how this had any relevance to what she was asking. However, she still answered his somewhat odd question with a short nod. "Yeah, I've heard it before."

He looked away, before muttering something inaudible. The older Minecraftian seemed somewhat troubled, at least from what she could tell from his expression. "Rain."

At the sound of her name, the young Minecraftian looked up at the Captain. "The truth is, I'm actually Herobrine's son."

Rain's face suddenly was drained of color, and she stepped back in fear. "D-Don't joke about Herobrine like that!"

His expression didn't change one bit. "I'm not."

The younger Minecraftian fell silent at hearing his words; her deep blue eyes slowly moving their gaze to the ground. Sparklez, however, was unsure on how the child would react to such information. The two stood there for a while longer, before the eldest decided to break the unsettling silence. However, just as he was about to speak up, Rain beat him to it. She looked up at him in understanding. "It's okay with me, I mean... it finally makes sense now, I guess."

The Captain raised an eyebrow. "It's completely fine with you?"

Rain gave a quick nod. "Of course! Sure, most people would just turn away, but... I trust you."

A hint of a smile tugged at his face. "All right, now that that's done and over with-"

He cut off his sentence abuptly, quickly turning around, drawing his sword in the process. Rain looked at Sparklez curiously, confused as to why he had stopped. "...Sparklez?"

Entering a crouching position, he gestured for the younger Minecraftian to be quiet, and she obentiently followed the silently issued command. The Captain's eyes darted around quickly, searching for anyone nearby. He straighted up after a few seconds, yet his suspicions were still running high. "We're not the only ones here," he stated.

Behind him, Rain's eyes narrowed a little bit, as if skeptical of his assumtion. He glanced back at her, now noticing the look she was giving him. He rolled his eyes, proceeding to sheathe his diamond sword. "Fine. Don't believe me, then."

Rain shrugged, completely blowing off Sparklez, and resumed walking. The older Minecraftian only shook his head slightly, and followed after her. As he finally caught up with the child, who had surprising gone quite far up the path, Rain was staring up into the heavens above, observing the fluffy white clouds that were passing by. A morning breeze caused her long nutmeg-colored hair sway in the wind. She seemed totally unaware of the Captain's presense, as she studied the skies above her, so he tapped her on the shoulder. She immediately turned to face him. "Took you long enough."

In reality, it had only been about a minute or so, but to the child, it had been much longer. Just as the two Minecraftians were about to continue towards the town of Tolurn, the eldest of the pair picked up a faint whirring noise from somewhere nearby. He couldn't pinpoint exactly where it was coming from, but from what he could tell was that it was getting louder by the minute. Sparklez's eyes narrowed, as he knew precisely what the source of it was. Aero's airspeeder, no doubt. He doesn't know when to give up, does he? At this point, Rain had noticed it too, and knew what it meant. "Not again..."

The Captain nodded. "I'm afraid so. I'm going to guess that Aero's not going to let us off lightly, either."

"Can't we just run?"

Sparklez faced the younger Minecraftian, a serious look in his eyes. "He'd catch up with us anyway. It's better to fight the threat head-on this time."

Suddenly, the whirring noise appeared to reach its peak, the sound now roaring over everything else. Sparklez unsheathed his sword; all his focus now centered on the rider of the airspeeder. "Stay behind me, Rain."

The Minecraftian didn't protest at all to this. After all, she barely had any fighting experiences in the past, whereas Sparklez had fought in countless battles, from small skirmishs with mobs, to all-out wars. Suddenly, with a single swift movement, Aero had jumped out of his vehicle, and was now staring directly at Sparklez with his standard smirk of confidence. "You're not going anywhere. The battle shall end in my favor, for once."

Returning the look Aero was giving him, Sparklez smirked back in sheer determination. "Don't count on it."

The expression on Aero's face vanished completely. "You'd be surprised."

Almost immediately, the Commander of the Dark Legions charged forward, slashing at the Captain with a multitude of different strikes, each one different from the last, which made his movements near-impossible to read. Two swords, one diamond and the other obsidian, clashed against each other almost constantly. The Minecraftians themselves were both near-equal in skill, and no one seemed to get the upper hand. As the fight trudged on, Aero managed to get a somewhat exceptional blow in, as his blade cut across the Captain's face. Sparklez was then knocked backward by a kick to the torso. He tried to recover, but at this point, Aero had already gained the upper hand, and there was little chance of him losing it. As the razor-sharp obsidian blade cut into the older Minecraftian's flesh, Aero couldn't help but grin in triumph. There was no way he could possibly lose now. With a final swipe, Aero knocked the Captain to the ground. "To think you actually believed you had a chance..."

Sparklez lifted himself back up just barely, but it just was enough for him to lock eyes with the other Minecraftian. The Commander looked down at the other, instantly spotting the dirty look he was being faced with. He darkly grinned at the sight of the defeated Captain. "This isn't all I have planned for you, that's for sure."

Rain, who was keeping her distance for much of the duel, stepped back in fear. Aero turned towards her, with gun in hand. Sparklez knew exactly what Aero was going to do. He was going to kill Rain in the same manner as her sister. The one thing that truly hated with all of his being was the unfair death of an innocent, especially someone as young as Rain. The Captain struggled to rise to his feet, as he had suffered severe injuries from all of the blows he had taken in the duel against Aero. Distracted, Aero was unaware of Sparklez until the very last second, where his reflexes were what saved him. With almost all of his remaining strength, Sparklez had attempted to strike Aero from behind, which failed. The Commander quickly disarmed the Captain, a faint smile on his face. "You'd have to do better than that to kill me."

Aero swiftly pulled his gun on Sparklez and shot him a few times, one of them in the shoulder. "That'll teach you."

The older Minecraftian's clothes were almost completely blood-stained at this point, and he was starting to feel quite light-headed. Refusing to even glance at the Commander, Sparklez stared at the ground, which was now beginning to turn to a dark shade of red, trying to think of something he could do in this situation. There was only one way he could possibly stop Aero from murdering Rain, although it would cost him. "Take me instead."

Aero turned around slowly, a faint smirk on his face. "You've finally come to this? Very well."

"On one condition. Leave Rain alone from now on."

The Commander's expression became very grim, as the girl would only intefer in later events. However, he was a man of his word, and agreed with the terms. He silently held the gun up to Sparklez's head, much to the dismay of Rain. As she ran towards the two, time seemed to slow down as Aero pulled the trigger. The last thing Sparklez heard was Rain cry out just before everything faded into darkness.

(A/N: My fangirl side is currently like Rain right now. She's so upset... By the way, I was listening to Rezonate – Lonely while writing the last part. Go check it out. Now, if you'll excuse me, my fangirl self needs some time alone. ~Dray)