And indeed, there was no mistaking the tall figure, dwarfed as he was by the monsters that surrounded him. His huge sword, with the signature gun motif, hacked and slashed its way around, slicing off legs, mandibles—yet always there was another enemy, another stinger flying at him.

Who else would have been foolish enough to take on so many enemies on his own? But then, who else had the absolute certainty that he could do that and win?

chaos' ship was a silent bird, but the creatures were incredibly sensitive to vibrations in the ground and it didn't take long for them to become aware of the new presence. A few of them straggled off, attempting to 'investigate' this shiny being, but that didn't mean that most lost interest in the much smaller and more exposed morsel already within reach.

chaos expertly navigated the ship right over the swarm and opened the bottom hatch. Paine caught a glimpse of Leon disappearing under a sea of chrome black, right before she and Vincent leapt down, blasting away (that is, Vincent blasted, and Paine's sword just blew a hole through four of them…at once).

There were significantly more of the beasts than they had fought before, but now they knew the secret to defeat it, what to watch out for and where the weak spots were.

Everything seemed to be spinning in a blur, there was one monster, it went down, then another, then another…

Eventually, all lay in ruined, sticky heaps, a few still attempting to move, but soon giving way to mortality.

Paine's head swiveled around, and her eyes roved, searchingly. She saw Leon yank the Gunblade upward and a beast lost its head.

All her months of searching, the dead ends, the frustration, it was there, but it didn't matter so much. Now, she was faced with a new, scarier concept. What was it she was suppose to say?

Whatever she was expecting HIM to do, he didn't deliver. He barely glanced at her as he went around the battle, making sure all the creatures were dead. It wasn't until he had finished this morbid task that he spoke to her, and this was in passing as he stalked by her at a fast clip, before she was able to even get out a greeting.

"Is that your ship?"

"It belongs to a friend, but-"

"Tell him to get it off the ground. Now."

Paine ground her teeth. He was ordering her around as if she was a juvenile. She rushed to catch up and halted in front of him, not letting him continue. HE stopped, but didn't look at her, just stared past her, watchful.

"Why should I l-"

"That was just a small hunting party. Undoubtedly, between the noise the ship is generating and the noise those things made, the rest of the colony will soon join. You don't want to be here when they come."

"WE came for you!" she shot back, her voice heated by rage. She struggled to maintain control of her emotions, but she couldn't keep the disdain from seeping into her tone.

"I'm sorry, maybe you were too busy decapitating bugs to notice, but we just saved your life."

"I could have taken them. I didn't need nor ask for your interference."

She was completely taken aback.

"INTERFERENCE? Do you have any idea how long-"she stopped short. His reaction had not been what she anticipated and now she had no inclination to share details of her search with him. He obviously wasn't interested. Fortunately, for all involved, Leon had been too distracted by watching for other creatures (not to mention the extremely vexed Warrior throwing mental spears in his face) to notice the oh-so-silent Vincent come up behind him. He barely had to time to register the odd glint in Paine's dark eyes before everything blacked out.

Vincent lowered his gun.

"He's not going to be pleased when he wakes up, correct?" he asked, as he manhandled the unconscious form up.

"Oh, he'll want to kill you. And likely everything with a five mile radius," Paine answered, instantly.

"Sounds like a charmer," a soft voice said behind them. chaos had lowered the ramp.

"I'm sure deep down, he's really an old softie," Paine didn't even try to stop the sarcasm dripping from her words.

It took all three of them to get Leon on the ship, and it turned out he was right. As the ramp closed, they were gifted with the sight of a thousand black bodies stampeding towards them.

chaos wasted no time, lifting the ship straight up off the ground, and firing the thrusters to shoot them out of the atmosphere. For the safety of all the passengers, they put Leon in what chaos had called 'Solitary'. He said he used it to pray, and indeed, it did resemble a chapel, with a few unlit candles, beautiful windows (Which obviously were dark now, with no light to shine through and illuminate their brilliant colors) and a quiet, peaceful atmosphere. There was a bench, and on this they lay the sleeping Gunblade Weilder. Paine was last to leave, looking down on the object of her prolonged search.

She had never been much of a talker. Not for a lack of things to say, simply for a distrust of those around her, and fear of letting anyone get close enough to hurt her. The armor she wore was not just on the outside.

She had thought she could trust him, had thought he trusted her. Obviously, she'd been wrong. It was a bitter pill to swallow, but she told herself that she should have seen it coming.

It wasn't like he owed her anything. How many times had he saved her life, and she just left him down in that cave. Oh, sure, they both probably would have died, and the Master would have gotten the Stigmon, but still-

Was it worth it?

She didn't know anymore. AS far as she was concerned, they could drop his sorry ass off at the first world they found, now matter how hostile. She had fulfilled her promise, now she could move on.

A treacherous voice within her whispered:

Move on to what?

The door hissed shut behind her with a click that had the ring of finality. She remembered to start breathing again. Quietly, trying to be unobtrusive, she sat down gingerly, being careful of the numerous scrapes and bruises on her back. Vincent wasn't there, but it wasn't hard to deduce his location—the medical center, getting supplies.

Paine leaned forward, resting elbows on knees and burying face in hands. She felt so weary and yet angrier than she had for a long time. She'd forgotten how infuriating he could be.

"You did the right think, you know," the soft, mellow voice of chaos broke into her reverie. She raised her head. He was standing on what they jokingly referred to as 'The Observation Deck': a raised platform in front of an especially large window. It gave an excellent view of the astral bodies they encountered.

But chaos was facing away then, regarding Paine with calm, cool sky eyes. She didn't answer him, but he'd grown accustomed to that. Of the three, chaos talked the most, not because he was a jabber head (Paine doubted he ever said anything unless it had significant meaning) but because he could carry on whole conversations with people's facial expressions. It was a rather disconcerting gift, in Paine's opinion, especially because it made him seem like he could read minds.

"You made a promise, you set out with a mission, and you followed it through, despite numerous frustrations and discouraging set backs." He wasn't telling her anything new, but to hear him say it in his confident way was uplifting. He continued to speak as if she had replied.

"He is a troubled soul. Unsettled, turmoil-ed. It does not surprise me that he wished to keep fighting alone and didn't want our help." He gave her a quiet, knowing smile. "Would YOU have liked being pulled from battle by strangers?"

She had to admit, she wouldn't. But then, even she wouldn't be stupid enough to take on so many enemies at once. She hadn't been like that in a long time. And when she had, her state of mind had been…bleaker. She knew how you had to think to be that reckless.

You had to have a death wish.

He woke up feeling groggy, thought processes trying to race their way through gelatin. At first, he thought his eyes were still closed because it was so dark, but gradually, small points of lighter darkness made themselves known. He tried to set up and his head screamed in protest. He placed a gloved hand against his temple wondering where the guy with the nail gun was. He wanted to make him stop shooting.

All at once, things came back to normal. He was a fast healer and never stayed under the weather for long. The events leading up to him waking up in this dark room raced at him all at once. His other hand had been holding onto an ornate post on the top end of the bench. As he thought of all that happened, he snapped the post off. How dare she? How DARE she! What right did she have-

Various words and images, most involving horrible gruesome death and all involving crudeness chased themselves around his aching head. The reasonable part of his brain, the part that was never affected by emotion, the cool calculating section that kept him alive told him that he was being irrational, that she and her cronies had probably saved his life and that he should be thankful, or at least not wanting to rip them all limb from limb. He was ignoring it.

Leon swung his legs down to the floor, which was hard-in fact, it felt like marble. That caught his attention. Marble on an airship? That's uncommon. He took a closer look around the room. Being so dark, it was hard to make out details, and it wasn't like he hung out in churches a lot, but he knew what it was. A place to pray. Leon snorted. He'd never understood the point of prayer; it just seemed like a glorified way of talking to yourself. It was eerily quiet, he kept waiting for something to happen, but nothing did. A strange sensation entered the back of his head. This place was safe. It was a ridiculous notion, no place was ever truly safe, but the illusion was certainly there. He felt very uncomfortable, he didn't belong there, he was out of place. It was harder to breathe, the air seemed so close in. He stood up and walked towards what was the only door in the room. He groped for a doorknob but came up empty. There were buttons though, with arrows pointing towards or away from each other. He put his finger up the 'Away' button, which he assumed was 'Open', then stopped. He needed a plan, had to figure out how he was he was going to play this. He just wanted them to drop him off at the nearest planet, no matter how hostile.

He stepped back and rubbed his face. This is why he didn't like being around people. Everything got complicated. Especially with her. He'd really, really hoped he wouldn't have to see her again.

But he couldn't stay forever in this temple of delusion, and he'd have to face them sooner or later. Might as well get it out of the way now.

The door hissed open, letting in a flood of light.

Vincent turned as he heard someone enter the supply room. It was chaos, his slender frame outlined in the doorway.

"Who's driving the ship?" Vincent asked.

"I put it on autopilot," was the answer. Vincent continued his task, leaving chaos to be silent or say what was on his mind.

"Are you able to find everything?" chaos stalled. Vincent nodded without turning around. Long moments passed.

"How did you get brought into this?" chaos finally asked, though Vincent could tell that it wasn't the most pressing question in his mind. Vincent shrugged, his metallic arm clinking with the motion.

"I was hired for the job. She's a competent fighter, but with all the people gunning for her, some extra muscle was needed."

Shuddering at the memory of the young assassin, chaos nodded acknowledgment. Then he lifted one shoulder in a half shrug, and smiled.

"Really, I don't mind one way or another, as long as they don't mess around with my ship."

Vincent nodded and hoped he wouldn't be mopping them both off the floor.