When the door opened, Paine knew it was Leon, without even having to turn around. She could tell from the way the air seemed to be sucked out of the room, from the determined and heavy footfalls, and the way her spine stiffened on its own. When he stopped, she could tell exactly where he was: directly behind her, two feet back. She made sure she had full control of herself before she slowly turned, but even then, she had to take a deep breath as a single thought thudded into her skull. I'd forgotten how big he is.

He was just standing there, taking in the details of the ship, as if he'd never seen one of this type before (which was entirely possible).

"Where are we?" he asked, head still swiveling around, voice calm and even. To the uninitiated, it would have seemed that he'd gotten over his anger and (dare hope) had decided to forgive her. But then he looked directly at her, eyes locking, fire and ice. And Paine knew him too well, could recognize the calculating anger in his eyes, the way his voice nearly wavered with barely checked rage, and she knew he NEVER forgave. She shrugged, trying to keep it all business.

"chaos' ship, the StarSong."

He took another look around, probably storing details like doorways, controls and such.

"Are you hungry?" It was a mundane question, and out of place given the circumstances, but she needed some way to break the ice. His eyes again met hers, and if there'd been any doubt that he was still homicidally angry with her, they dissipated instantly.

"No, thank you."

Oh, Yevon, he's being polite. Now I know it's bad. She suppressed a sigh of aggravation. He was walling her, not letting her get anywhere, but at least he hadn't tried to snap her neck yet.

"Look, I don't know how long it'll be and I doubt you've eaten recently." She took a step towards him and immediately, he stiffened, stepped back and went into a unarmed defensive position. Paine decided she'd had enough of this nonsense.

"I'm not your enemy, dammit, and I don't want to fight you. I mean you no harm," her words came out fast and hard, but still controlled.

He straightened, while spitting out:

"No, you just show up uninvited and interrupt a fight that's none of your business, yeah, you're a saint."

His words stung, but she refused to be cowed. She gave a short, bitter laugh.

"Ha. That wasn't a fight, it was self-execution, you were TRYING to get yourself killed." She saw a flicker in his eyes and knew she'd hit the right button.

"What do you want from me, huh? You got the Treasure, I fulfilled my part of the contract."

Her voice was so soft, so low, he almost didn't hear her.

"I wanted to make sure you were okay."

He spun slowly for her inspection, arms held straight out.

"See? I'm fine."

She shook her head, eyes as lifeless and dark as a cadavers.

"No. What I see is a foolish boy who's decided he's got nothing to live for and is too cowardly to just face it and deal with it, so he goes to fight one pointless battle after another, instead of utilizing his skills where it could help other people."

The words were biting and harsh, but she meant every word. Leon clenched and unclenched his fists.

"What do I care for other people, what have they ever done for me?"

"Well, for starters, I believe WE just saved your life."

"And I suppose you want thanks for that."

"No, I want you to grow up."

"Just who do you think you are?"

"I think I'm the person who's been looking for you for almost half a year."

He stilled. They were both breathing heavily, the blood pounding in their ears. He spoke quietly, and more than a little condescendingly, as if she was a child who wouldn't understand.

"Look, I'm not sure what kind of relationship you might think we have or had, but I'm afraid it was a misapprehension."

She just stared at him, incredulously. Then she laughed again.

"What? You think THAT'S what this is about? I didn't think twice about that. Wow," she shook her head, "For someone who's tired of living, you sure are full of yourself."

She backed up a few steps, her expression blank and cold.

"I'm sorry, sir, I seem to have mistaken you for someone else. It is my mistake and I apologize. I thought you were something you're obviously not." She turned and strode to the door. It hissed open, but before she went through, he asked:

"What was that?"

She glanced back at him, then faced the darkness of the opening.

"A hero," she replied, as she disappeared.

On the other side of the door, Paine took another calming breath. It disturbed her, this effect he had on her self-control. She'd never met a person she wanted to kill so badly. So why had she wasted so much time and effort to find him? She supposed, as she raked her fingers through jet silver hair, she wanted to finish what she started. And he was part of that mission. The problem she faced now was…could she really believe the mission was over?

Leon pounded his fist sideways into a wall, his head hanging low. That hadn't been the way he'd wanted this to go down. To be honest, he wasn't sure what he wanted. He HADN'T wanted to be brought on this ship, he hadn't wanted to be picked up, he hadn't wanted to see her again—and yet, now that he had, the black and white universe he thought he inhabited had been tipped upside down again. It was her eyes, he knew. The way they regarded him, so coolly, as if they would strip away all the walls he'd worked so hard to raise and leave him exposed and in the open for her to inspect and discard. It disturbed him, this affect she had on his self-control.

He leaned against the wall he'd accosted and closed his eyes, wishing the light didn't burn them so. His fingers reached up and gently felt the scar that almost divided his face. How do I get myself into these situations? he pondered.

A hero. That's what she'd called him, the silent accusation hanging heavily in the air. He had disappointed her, let her down somehow. That shouldn't have mattered to him, but it did. He told himself that it was because he didn't want this little wretch of a girl telling what he was and was not.

So the question became: What was he going to do now? Try and prove her wrong? Turn his back on everything and start over somewhere else, return to his nomadic existence? No matter what, he and she were back at square one, and that would put a strain one whatever he decided. And did he really want to go back to the life he had before? If you could even call it a life: moving from place to place, fighting 'one pointless battle after another', praying that memories of her wouldn't keep him up at night.

Ah, yes. Her. The real reason he hadn't wanted to come back. After the…events leading up to his being trapped in the caverns under the surface of the Dead Planet, he felt he'd betrayed her memory, and that his situation was punishment for shirking the burden of his guilt, even for a moment. In a sad, perverse way, a large factor in his never wanting to see Paine again, was the fear of being tempted to do so again. But she said she hadn't thought twice about it, so obviously HE had read the situation wrong. So if it didn't matter to her, perhaps it was alright to stay here, he wouldn't be betraying the one he'd lost. They were so different, the two of them, but he couldn't picture them together, couldn't form an image of them both simultaneously in his mind. It was because, he was sure, they belonged to two completely separate universes. Different lifetimes. The same way he felt he was two different people: who he had been and who he was now.

But…what did he want now?

"I wouldn't argue with her, if I were you," a voice as calm as rain broke into his train of thought. Leon opened his eyes. It was the white-haired one, the one who looked so young.

"And who are you?" Leon countered. The young man put out a gloved hand.

"I am chaos," he replied, nothing but gentle sincerity in his voice. Leon raised an eyebrow.

"YOU'RE chaos? You own this magnificent vessel?"

The young man's blue eyes shone with pride and his mouth turned up in a small smile.

"Yes, this is my freedom." He cocked his head to one side. "Tell me, if I may ask…what is your freedom?"

Leon blinked. He thought of a dozen half-answers, things that wouldn't really mean anything. Yet something told him that such an attempt wouldn't work with this strange individual with the serene expression. You just…couldn't lie to him. It made Leon really stop and think about it. What did freedom even mean?