408 A Dream

"Why didn't you kill me?" Seth Solar sat cross-legged atop a sea of scorched rubble. He was surrounded by Panopticon elite droids. His hands were shackled together with null cuffs. Cracks lined his skin, glowing with barely contained light. Patches of him were gone like shards broken off a porcelain doll.

"I don't know. Pity, I guess. When I see you, I have an odd sense I can see what could have been" said the boy. No, not a boy anymore. He had saved the day. He had protected his friends. He had put it all on the line and won. He had done what it had taken to be a man.

More than a man – a hero.

Not without cost, though. One of the man's eyes was scorched shut with blackened, charred flesh.

"I don't need your pity," said Seth.

"I know you don't. Just don't make me regret handing it out toyou." The man nodded at the droids. "Take him in."