Having acquired an active form of transportation, Paine now felt antsy and anxious. She wanted to get out there, to find him, make sure he'd made it, that he hadn't-

"We are ready for takeoff, Paine," chaos' voice came over the intercom system. She strapped herself into the seat that had been assigned to her. chaos' ship was significantly larger than Leon's ship, the Rinoa. It came equipped with a pilot's seat, a copilot's seat and three passenger seats, each of which were deeply cushioned and had a double chest strap and a waist belt. There was more open space, more room to move in…although this didn't comfort Paine much, having been tossed around Leon's ship quite a bit.

The introductions between Vincent and chaos had been brief, but cordial. It was hard not to like the white haired young man. And while Vincent wasn't the most open individual on any world, he wasn't always as standoffish as he first appeared.

As soon as they took off, the reality of it all set in, and Paine was having trouble coming to grips with it. They were going, they were on their way. It had taken so long for Paine to find a pilot that she'd almost forgotten what she'd needed one for in the first place.

But she couldn't. She couldn't forget. While the nightmares of her past still haunted her at times, they were far less frequent than they had been, and instead were replaced with a sense of urgency, no words, just a feeling. The Master had tried to kill her on more than a few occasions, what would happen when he found Leon? It wasn't that Paine had any doubt about Leon's ability to defend himself, she just would have rather they fight together. In an esoteric way, she could wonder why this was. She didn't even know him incredibly well, but they'd made a good team. And she hadn't been part of a team for a very long time.

See, this is the problem with space. Too much time to think.

She glanced over at Vincent, who was sitting straight up in his chair, but his eyes were closed, breathing slow and shallow. She wished she could sleep upright. But then, Paine had discovered, sleeping was overrated.

When they had broken free of the world's atmosphere and were flying straight through emptiness, she unbuckled her seatbelts and moved to the copilot's chair. She nodded to chaos, who looked up and smiled at her, before returning to driving.

"How long do you think it will take us?"

He shrugged, torn between concentrating on the control of the ship and trying to be cordial.

"From the coordinates you gave me, it shouldn't take long. That is, assuming we don't run into any problems."

Paine groaned inwardly, as she remembered Sevren and the little stint on the Heaven's Kiss. Yeah, she was familiar with those kinds of complications. She nodded acknowledgement to chaos and went back to the passenger area. She sat down and buckled herself in. For some reason, a wave of fatigue washed over her, and she fell asleep, her chin resting against the silver X on her chest.

She slept without dreaming. When she awoke, it was because someone was shaking her.

"Hmm, what?" Paine mumbled, opening her eyes and then quickly wincing as the harsh white light invaded them. Vincent's left hand was on her shoulder, his right (the organic one) on her head; chaos was leaning down, a concerned expression on his face.

"We were beginning to worry about you," he said quietly. Paine's brow furrowed.

"Why?" she asked, incredulously. chaos glanced at Vincent, who averted his gaze.

"You've been sleeping for a long time."

Her eyes became crimson slits.

"How long?"

"Well-"

"How. Long."

It was Vincent who answered.

"Almost half a day…and an entire night."

At first, she thought they were kidding. Then she HOPED they were kidding. But it was quite apparent that they weren't. She rubbed her forehead, trying to figure out how she could have stayed asleep for so long. Then another thought came to her.

"Are we there? Have we arrived?"

chaos nodded. Paine bolted out of her seat to one of the windows that lined the side of the ship.

"Uh-" chaos started, and the tone of his voice made her stop, before she looked outside.

"Well, what is it?" she demanded, hands across her chest.

"I swear, these are the right coordinates. It's just-"

Paine swiveled around and stared out the window, her breath lodged in her throat.

There was nothing but empty space.

The Dead Planet was gone.