The terrain was harsh as Leon, and Dagger made their way to the Evac.
sight. Dagger peered through his in Optical scanner, making sure that the
terrain was cleared, Leon on the other hand seemed distracted.
	"Help me Leo..." a soft female voice gasped out "...help me..." The
voice vanished as Leon shook his mind clear, as he kneed posted guard over
Olivia's body, Plasma Rifle ready on hand. The ghostly voice from his past
seemed to still haunt him, more so as he looked into Olivia's eyes.
	Capt. Jose was just over the ridge, taking survey at the scene below.
Orders were given to split the crew in three, one team took the right flank,
the second took the left. Jose remained dead centered along with Tom. Leon
and Dagger carefully made their way down the east ridge. Scanning the Area
for anything alive, Dagger picked up something on Infrared, but it quickly
vanished. As Leon sat there, he heard the sounds of a girl crying out for
help.
	"Sis,... Sis where are you?" replied Leon. As he moved forward, he
began to drop all of his equipment. Dropping his Plasma rifle, scanning
equipment, and medic kit.
	"Leon..."
	"Hey Unholy, what gives man. You looking to get yourself shot?"
Dagger said to him over open channels.
	"Huh..." snapped Leon as he took assets of his surroundings.
	"Get down before you are spotted," said Dagger as he motioned to Leon
to move down. Suddenly an Explosion was heard coming from up ahead, and Laser
Fire filled the sky above them.
	"Troops, sound off" bellowed Tom over the platoon channel.
	"Dagger and Unholy here. Both unharmed, and I do not think they know
we're here, sir." replied Dagger
	"Roger that Dagger."
	"Sir, I think something wrong with Unholy sir."
	"What do you mean Dagger, is he injured?"
	"No sir, it is just that..." answered Dagger, but Tom cut him off,
"If he not bleeding or dying, then it could wait. Understood?"
	"Yes, Sir." replied Dagger as he look over at Leon direction,
noticing a blank stare on him.
	"Right now I want to know where that blasted Laser fire is coming
from." radioed Tom over open channels.
	Within what felt like hours the Laser Cannon was finally found, and
shut down, and pair continued their journey across the ridged plains to the
Evac sight. As they got closer, radio transmission about the Evac Shuttle
being taken hostage was picked up on private channels. Dagger, and Leon
picked up orders given to Crow from Tom to enter the shuttle. Dagger heard
nothing, but Leon heard the whistling sounds of a chamber decompressing all
of a sudden. Radio silence went on for several moments after Leon heard the
small implosion. Crow's voice was the one that finally broke the silence,
reporting the shuttle was retrieved from the Pirate siege. By the time
Dagger, and Leon reached the shuttle, Tom and Crow were awaiting their
arrival. They quickly got on board, Leon dropped off Olivia in the care of
Karen, Normandy's ship's doctor.
	The flight back to Normandy was a bit smoother than the flight down
to the surface. All the surviving crew members were strapped in, the dead and
injured were left secured in the cargo bay. This flight seemed to have taken
longer though, for it carried with it a lot of sorrow over the fallen crew
friends.
* * * * * * * * * *
	"Personal Log 98129 the mission was a bust. We lost half of the crew
in a wild goose chase. It has been days since the moon landing, and I am
still unable to clear my thoughts. I try working on the E-Frame, put a little
more time in the gym, but nothing seems to work. I use to be able to clearly
mind without any difficulties, but it gets harder nowadays."
	Unholy
* * * * * * * * * *
	'Knock, Knock, Knock' the sound of a person knocking on a door is
heard.
	"Whose there?" exclaimed Leon.
	"Its me Tom, Unholy."
	Leon walked to the door, pressed the lock release button, and the
door slid open. He turned a walked back to the center of the room, "Come in."
	Tom entered the room, and immediately began to look around Leon's
quarters. To Tom's surprise, the room was completely empty. No family
pictures, no nick nacks, not even dirty laundry on the floor, as he is
accustomed to seeing in other quarters. The bed looked as if it has yet to be
laid on, the only thing that looked out of place from such a vacant room, was
Leon's tool box at the foot of his bed.
	"You know why I am here, right?" asked Tom.
	"No sir, haven't the foggiest idea," replied Leon.
	"Well, I just finished having a little talk with Dirk, and he is
concerned for your well being. He told me what took place on the surface of
Enceladus. You dropped all your equipment, even your side arm in the mist of
hostile lands."
	"I am afraid I still do not understand what you are talking about,
sir."
	"O.K. we can play it this way. Until you are clear by the Doc, you
are to be grounded. Is that understood?"
	"Yes, sir," Leon glared at Tom as he said out those words. He was
left to think things out on his own after Tom walked out. It was understood
that until he could handle the struggle in his mind, he would pose a danger
to himself, and possibly someone else.
* * * * * * * * * *
	The strong scent of fuel, and oils filled the air of Normandy's
garage. The sound of a socket wrench twisting off a screw was that could be
heard. For not many people would be up this early in the morning, not many at
all, except for Leon. Sleep was not something his body needed. He had a whole
two hours before the day crew woke up. Which gave him just enough time to
play around with the Fusion Generator of his E-Frame. A short was preventing
the generator from powering up after the Fusion pack was inserted, and with
24 wires leading to 48 circuits, two hours was all the time he needed.
	The door hatch opened, Leon quickly heard it, but paid no attention
to the intruder of his silent work. Karen entered dressed in her nighty, a
robe, and fussy slippers holding a tub of ice cream in her hand, chocolate
from the scent of it. Leon looked up to catch Karen glance from across the
room.
	"Can't sleep?" asked Leon
	"Nope."
	"Bad Dreams?"
	"Yep."
	"Join the crowd. Sit if you like," said Leon as he pointed to a
nearby stool. As Karen made her way across garage, Leon was able to hear the
rubber soles of her slipper squeak as it rubbed against the smooth metal
floor. She slowly sat, and looked at Leon playing around with several wires.
	"So what's keeping you up Doc?" asked Leon as he continued his work
on the generator.
	"Nothing much, I just wanted a mid-night snack," replied Karen.
	"Really now," a smirk forms on Leon's lips unnoticed due to the fact
his back is turned to her, "some snack."
	"Hey! Anyhow I should be the one asking how you have been doing. I
hear we have an appointment with you later this morning. Care to start
Early?"
	"Not much to talk about, your wasting your time," commented Leon.
	"That is not what I hear from Tom, and Dirk."
	He slowly turned to her, looked straight into her eyes. The initial
glare shocked Karen. She quickly dropped her stare down to her tub of Melting
Ice cream, and quickly ate another spoon full.
	"What would they know. They have no skeletons in their past that
haunts them everyday of their lives. What happen down there was nothing, I do
feel bad for the ones which did not make it, but it is something I have grown
use to." with those word, Leon turned his back to her once more. He picked up
his circuit tester, and continued to work on the generator. Karen sat on the
stool finishing her ice cream. The room fell into an eerie silence, with the
only sounds coming from Leon's work. When she finished, she carefully placed
the tub on the ground next to the stool. Leon turned around to face her once
again.
	"Still here I see."
	"You can sort of say, I had nothing better to do. Considering the
fact we cannot sleep, I see no harm in starting my little chat early."
	"Pushy aren't we," replied Leon, "fine." He stopped, placed his tools
on the ground next to the generator, sat, and faced Karen.
	In a sarcastic tone, "So DOC, what would you like to know about
skeletons in my closet?"
	Ignoring the tone in which he spoke, "On two separate occasion you
were heard saying something about helping your sister on the surface of the
moon." As she spoke she could see the witty look Leon had wash away, and a
more serious expression came about. "Once as you held Olivia making your way
to the Evac sight, and once on top of the East Ridge. Both times you were
said to be a little spaced out. Care to explain?"
	Leon sat there, and stared down , as Karen watched, She noticed what
seems to be a tear hit the ground. "Help me Leon... help me. She cried out
for me several times, but I could not get to her in time. It was too late,
the Noes were right behind me."
	"Hold on, what do you mean? What happened? Start from the beginning."
	"I was in a campus not to far from my home, when Neo E-Frames began
firing on the building at full force. I was able to get out, jump onto my
bike, and ride off."
	Karen studied Leon as he stood and walked towards the counter to put
some tools away, "and," she whispered.
	"And I tried to get home before the Neos got to it. The campus was
destroyed." His eyes rolled over towards Karen direction, but he was not
looking at, but passed her. Almost as if he was reliving the whole
experience. "By the time I got home, I found my house in rubbles. How did
they get to it, how did they know? Our house was in the middle of woods, but
yet they still found it. As I stood there, I could hear my kid sister calling
out for me."
	Leon's muscles begin to tense up.
	"I found her body pinned down by the large oak that grew next to our
house. I was unable to free her, and as time passed, I could hear the roaring
sounds of Neo-Frames approaching. I could not have left her there, not after
what went around about Neo torturing their captives. So I drew my Plasma
gun."
	Leon stood there, moving as he moved so many years ago during the Neo
invasions. His arms moved in front of him, looking as if it was holding
something, pointed down. Leon's knees buckled, he fell to the ground. Karen
quickly stood, and moved towards him.
	"She would have been graduating from High school today if it were
not for those blasted Sapes." He looks over to Karen, "now do you see why
Dirk or Tom could not fully understand what has happened to me?"
	Suddenly the two were interrupted with the sound of a door opening.
	"You go and tell Tom what you like, tell him to ground me, tell him
to lock me up, tell him what you like. All I know is that it will not hold me
down from stomping on those worthless Neos faces."
	Karen shook here head, tucked her arms into the pockets of her robe,
and looked down to Leon, "I will tell him those exact words, and for what it
is worth... I am sorry." She turned and made her way to the garage door. Her
fluffy slipper squeaked all the way to the door, as she tried her best to
look presentable in front of the two entering Mechanics. As she reached the
doorway, she glanced back. Leon back faced her once again, as he sat there
continuing his work on the fusion generator. A thought came to mind, as to
how Leon has made it this far. What has kept him going all these years. She
fumbled on a candy bar in her pocket, took it out, and looked at it.
	"Looks like there are people who needs this more than I do." As she
walks back to her room, she leaves the candy bar sitting on top of a counter
in the garage.