This time the dream was different. There was no tunnel, no screaming, and no pain. Instead, there was just her and Nooj, Baralai and Gippal. They were laughing, joyous in the face of adversity. She blinked. Something was wrong. Gippal's face changed, morphing, until it was Rikku standing there. Yuna too replaced Baralai. Nooj disappeared altogether. They were still laughing, their eyes shining. Yuna and Rikku stepped into each other, becoming one. The voice changed, deepened until the being had morphed into Leon, still laughing. Her eyes widened, and he held out his hand. Should she take it? Why was he laughing? Before she could answer, the ground began to shake. She jerked all over the place, and there was a voice yelling, 'Paine!'

"Paine! Dammit, wake up!"

Paine opened her eyes to find herself staring into two deep blue pools. Leon had his hand raised, as if he had been about to slap her awake.

"I'm here, I'm okay."

There was a growling noise somewhere, though Paine couldn't tell from her horizontal position where it was coming from.

"But we may not be," Leon answered, gravely. Paine sat up. It looked like they were in some kind of forest. It reminded her a little bit of Macalania, but with more greens instead of blues. And it was significantly louder.

"Where are we?" she asked, instant clarity coming to her, as if she'd been dashed with cold water.

"I'm not sure." It was the second time Leon had ever sounded uncertain, and it made Paine very worried.

A shape emerged from the darkness of the trees. Paine's eyes widened.

"By Yevon, " she whispered, "It's a fiend."

Leon shook his head.

"No. It's a Heartless!"

High in his airship, above another planet, Mirt poured himself another drink. Surreptitiously he looked around the room. It was dark in here, too dark. His glass was halfway to his mouth when a blood-curling shriek split the air.

"You blundering imbecile! You forgot about the Guardians!" a hiss that could melt iron came from the shadows. Mirt trembled, and almost dropped his glass.

"My-my lord, I thought you said the Guardians weren't going to be a problem…" his voice trailed off as it occurred to him that contradicting the Master would not improve his life expectancy much. He gulped loudly, and sat down. The shadows writhed and twisted, contorting into shapes that should not be seen by mortal eyes. Just before Mirt passed away into sweet unconsciousness, his mind floated to the two Warriors, wherever they may be. Inwardly, though he wasn't sure why, he hoped they survived.

In fact it was neither a Heartless or a fiend, but considering that both fighters had experience really only with those two, perhaps it was understandable why their first conclusion was wrong. The creature that lumbered towards them would be hard to describe because it had few if any distinguishing marks. It was completely gray and had next to no figure. There was a kind of lump on top that resembled a head, and two vague arm-shaped appendages at the side. Two legs allowed it to walk, though from the way it moved, it seemed like this wasn't its natural gait.

All in all, it looked like someone had heard of humans and wanted to make on of their own, but had never actually seen one, only heard a description. Paine thought it actually looked rather pitiful. The only thing the face-if it could be called such-had was a gaping hole which was apparently suppose to look like a mouth, which was open in a silent and never ending scream.

Paine stood up, a wave of vertigo washing over her, but she purposefully pushed it aside. There could be no question as to the thing's intention as it flew at them, one arm raised. Before their incredulous eyes, one hand lengthened until it sported vicious looking talons. Without thinking Leon pushed Paine out of the way as the creature leapt, aiming straight for Leon's face. He fell backward from the weight, but managed to keep the thing's claws away from his face. Paine wasted no time. As soon as she could get up, she brought her sword down sharply against the creature's back. It didn't even break the skin. Paine stared at her sword in horror. The thing hadn't even flinched. What her strike had accomplished though was turn the monster's attention to her. It hissed, revealing rows of needle like fangs within its black maw. It snapped at her, but hit only her armor. The temporary distraction allowed Leon to pull free his Gunblade. The monster half turned to focus more on Paine, and in that moment Leon struck. With a grunt, he managed to turn his blade straight up, skewering the strange gray thing. It sunk down, still clawing at both Leon and Paine simultaneously. Then suddenly, as if the thought had just occurred to it, the creature looked down to the blade that was now sticking out of its back. With a mournful cry that split the air, it exploded into a cloud of gray dust.

Coughing and choking, Paine waved a hand in front of her face. She'd been close to the thing before it disappeared and had gotten its...its essence in her mouth. When her vision cleared, she looked at Leon who was still lying on his back, his sword sticking straight up.

"Are you okay?" she asked, briskly, her brow furrowed. In answer, he got up, brushing the dust off his dark pants and jacket.

"Let's get off this rock," he muttered, heading off in a seemingly random direction. Paine followed without question. She was sure Leon knew where he had left the ship. Her confidence was justified when a loud hum was heard.

"Someone's trying to hail the ship!" Leon threw over his shoulder, breaking into a dead run. Paine had to hurry to keep up with him, but she managed all rightt. Without pausing, Leon raced up the metal grating into the now heavily damaged ship. By the time Paine had entered, she could hear a voice saying:

"Leon? Leon, are you there?" It was a high voice, obviously female, that sounded very young.

"Yeah, Yuffie, I'm here," Leon answered, out of breath. His arms rested on the console, as he hung his head, trying to catch up with himself

"Where have you been? I've been trying to call you for like ever!" The voice painfully reminded Paine of Rikku, with the same chirpy cheerfulness. The face on the screen though was very different.

"We, uh…ran into a little problem," Leon replied, evasively.

"We?!" Yuffie demanded. She caught sight of Paine. She was a young looking girl, though Paine knew better than to judge just by that. She wore a bandana (again, Paine felt the prick of recognition), and had short black hair. She smiled broadly, and her eyebrows were raised as she glanced sideways at Leon.

"Leon…keeping secrets are we?" she asked lightly. Leon didn't answer. Yuffie caught Paine's expression, and immediately was serious.

"What?"

Paine blinked.

"Oh, nothing. You just remind me of someone."

Silence reigned in the cabin for a while, before Yuffie asked, again, light and airy.

"So, are you going to introduce me to your friend or what, Squall?"

Paine saw Leon stiffen all along his back. Immediately, Yuffie tried to cover her mistake.

"I mean Leon." She looked at Paine. "I'm the great ninja Yuffie!" she introduced herself, waving and laughing. Leon spun around and left the ship, leaving Paine alone with the endlessly happy Yuffie.

"Paine," she replied shortly, her gaze following Leon as he disappeared.

"Aw, don't mind him. He'll cool down. So, are you keeping my seat warm?"

It took Paine a little while to realize what she meant.

"Oh, you mean you were the navigator."

"Yup!" Yuffie nodded vigorously. Paine quickly ran over the events that had made them temporarily stranded on the strange planet. Yuffie listened silently, nodding at times, outright guffawing at others. Paine found that, against all her better judgement she really did like the young ninja. She had a way of making you think everything would be all right. They talked-that is, Yuffie talked and Paine tried not to get a headache, and then Yuffie signed off. Before she disappeared, Paine heard her say:

"Take care of the big guy for me, will ya?" but she was gone before Paine could answer. Even if she could, Paine didn't think there was anything she could say.

Outside, Leon was inspecting the damage to his craft. The crash had completely torn off one wing, and the engine was a shred. He kicked a tree in frustration. As he walked around the ship, he wondered what Yuffie could possibly find to discuss with Paine. There couldn't be two more different girls in his opinion. Eventually, exhausted from the cash and the fight with the…whatever it had been, Leon sat down on a conveniently placed rock. But when he closed his eyes he saw her. Her face rose up in his memory. He would have smiled, until her death came roaring in, ripping up all the goodness, until there was nothing but black despair.

He barely heard Paine walk out until she was right in front of him. He looked up at her startled. The sun was against her back, making it hard to see her face in the shadows.

"Is it fixable?" she asked. Her voice sounded like it was coming from far away.

"Leon?" Paine looked concern. His eyes seemed really bloodshot. She wondered when the last time he'd slept was. He blinked a few times as if coming out of a trance.

"I'm fine." His voice hardened. "We can't get off the ground, without some new parts. But," he continued, looking around, "I'm not even sure what world we're on, or if it has civilization." He ran a hand over his face. Paine looked up. The sky was darkening, and it looked like a storm was rolling in. Leon followed her gaze. He growled in exasperation.

"As if things couldn't get worse."

And then it started to rain.