(BEFORE THE BATTLE)
Royce shuddered as he found himself in the black void again. Only now he realized how cold it seemed to be. He waited for the inevitable appearance of his former friend. Dion did show, stepping out of the darkness like he was stepping through a stream of water. He looked worse than ever, bare bone and muscle showed all over his body, clumps of dead flesh hung from tendons and a few remaining strands of sinew. "So Royce, the secret is out, huh? Well...what are you going to do now?" Dion asked in a nonchalant tone. "I...I-I-I don't know what to do now..." he said, fearing what the response would be. "Well you should!" a new, but still familiar voice said behind Royce. He turned around and saw Sgt. Finn, in a smiler state of decay, though the scowl on his face was unmistakable, as Dion was headed toward him. "W-w-what...I-I tried to save you...Sergent...but..." Royce sputtered, unable to tear his eyes away from the terrible sight. "Wish you could say the same for us." now he saw Arlen and Julian approaching. "Face it, Roy, you failed us all." Dawson said. Now Royce was surrounded. His eyes grew wild with fear. He grabbed onto Dion's shirt, ignoring the filth crusted on it, and cried. "I'm sorry, Dion...I-I did fail...b-but...I never abandoned anyone of you before...I-I-I just couldn't take it any more..." as he spoke he was reduced to tears and sank too his knees. "Please...Dion...all of you...tell me how to make it better...how do I fix this?" he cried miserably.
"Well it's about time." Dion said. "That's the first step right there. You're not running from what you did. Your trying to make up for it. Now, if you really want to make it up to us, you'll promise, that when you leave this place, you'll never abandon someone who needs your help, that you'll never shirk your duty, and most importantly, that you will never, EVER use the 'I'm just a medic' excuse again. Can you do that?" Royce took a moment to let all of that sink in. 'Can I?' he thought to himself. Then, with as much conviction as he could muster he said, "Yes. I can do it. I will do it. I promise."
Dion chuckled and patted his shoulder. "There now. That wasn't so hard, was it?" Royce looked up timidly and saw Dion in prefect health, a bright smile on his lips. "There ya go Roy." Dawson said as he hauled him back to his feet. "Good luck out there." Julian said as he shook Royce's hand. "Give em hell son." Finn said with a small smirk on his face.
Last Royce looked at Arlen. He always felt awkward around the Lutenient. He always felt like he was expecting more out of him than he could possibly give. "We don't really blame you. You were forced into a situation that required an above-average person. A man with superhuman curage and determination, and you were not that man. But that's nothing to be ashamed of. It only means you can improve." If Royce didn't know better, he would have almost guessed that Arlen's voice was cracking, but he grunted and continued. "Well Corporal, you've got a mission. Go out there, and complete it. Show all those others what it means to be a SPECTER...what it means to be a soldier." He gave a curt salute and Royce returned it. Things started to fade and go blurry. "Wait, Dion!" he shouted as they all started to fade. "Don't...don't you have anything to say?" he asked. "What do you want to hear?" he replied with a confident grin. Royce just shook his head. "Never mind." He was right. There was nothing left to be said. With that, Royce opened his eyes and saw the ceiling of the Normandy.
OOC: Done and done.
