"Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me." The blue eyed boy sang to himself as he skipped through the halls and toward his room, the joy of turning 13 was apparent by the smile that was on his face, even as he got scolded by the instructor that yelled at the lad as he passed. it had only been three years since he arrived at deus ex, all the time he spent being conditioned for a role, and to be hardened by the amount of gore and death he would soon see for himself.

But the blonde, even after watching friends and teachers get buried and mutilated in front of his azure eyes, he still had an innocence to him. And it was finally time for him to go on real missions, not just assisting but playing a vital role of defending. "You have the qualities of being a defender, a protector for the good of the squad." The words he heard that day filled his little heart with pride as he puffed his chest up and told himself not to cry. He would be the best moon hunter he could be, for those that could not watch him progress this far.

He didn't expect anyone to remember his birthday, but the item that waited in his room after he walked in took his breath away. "Wooooowww." he marveled at the shiny telescope already pointed out of the tiny window in his dorm. Normally Neil wasn't one who was keen on uninvited visitors to his room, but this time it was accepted. The preteen did catch a glimpse of the little tag by the eyepiece that he didn't hesitate to read.

"To Neil;

May the moons above watch over you in our squadron and the stars in the sky light your way."
Do your best from now on, Pluto.

-Moon division."

"Pluto?" he asked awkwardly to the quiet room with no one else in there. It didn't make any sense, why call him pluto? It was a planet, not a moon. Maybe the members of the squad were a bit touched in the head, but they did still give him a telescope. One that he spent hours in the middle of the night, looking up at what the world had to offer. Comets and shooting stars and the solar system that continued to spin on as he went on mission after mission.

Blinded eyes could still see. the images that flew through Neil's final moments was something not even conquest could take away from him. But the life and the future for the young teenage moon hunter was easily ripped away.

He only wished he could look up at the night sky just one more time.

Just one more time.

And before he knew it, he was at one with all that it encompassed.