This girl is very weird, thought Riley. Not only is she a bit of a smartass, but she wants to do introductions right after almost dying? He guessed that anyone, including himself, would be curled up in a pile of tears right after experiencing that for the first time. Just the release of stress after being so tense would shake even the strongest people. He figured she was either used to this type of thing, or a thrill seeker. Judging by the wide grin on her face, it was most likely the latter. Well, it won't be the first time he's been stuck with a thrill seeker. Those were crazy times, and he had no wish to go back to them.

About three hours later, they finally sat down in a little cove at the side of a relatively clean hallway. Previously, they had decided to look for a room that seemed suitable for sleep. There was one such room with a mattress for a floor, but as it turned out, it was impossible to sleep there due to the millions of needles stuffing the mattress, so after almost bleeding out from thousands of tiny stab wounds, they wandered around some more, until giving up and resting at their current location. Phoenix had immediately sat down, announced that they were taking two-hour shifts to watch for anything and that she had first shift, but just thirty minutes in and she was obviously ready to drop.

He looked over to see her slumped over on the ground, breathing softly as she dozed. Suddenly she snored loudly, then jerked up and awake for the fifth time that night. Looking around and blinking rapidly, she slowly clambered up and did a couple meager stretches, then sat back down, back straight and eyes alert. He watched her slowly droop down for a sixth time, struggling to stay awake for a few more minutes, then finally succumb to sleep and lay down. Bloody hell, this was torture to watch, but at the same time hilarious. He was still wavering between the two when a huge yawn overtook him, and he decided to take a nap. Just a quick one, though. Nothing huge.

*******

“I wonder if I should wake him”. After waking up around six hours later, I saw Riley was in a deep sleep, deep enough that I was able to steal his watch. Of course, I'll return it to him once he wakes up-if he remembers to ask for it back. Hey, I really need a way to tell time in this place, since there isn't any indicator of day or night. I was relying on my circadian rhythms, but as it turns out, those don't really work so well in a dream. Hence, stealing his watch. Also, it's a really nice watch.

I stare at his face for a couple minutes, noting he has a particularly tortured expression on, then decide that anyone sleeping that miserably is committing a crime, so I take off a sock and place it over his mouth. It got really sweaty with all that running earlier, and the stress just added to it, so it's become a petri dish at this point. Almost immediately his eyes snap open and he jerks upright, accidentally flinging the sock across the room, and starts to cry. Really loudly, and messily. I cringe back and wonder, what it really that bad of a smell?

*******

He's hurtling towards the planet, unable to change course, trapped in his seat by its damaged seat belt. Frantically tugging at it, he remembers his training and takes slow breaths while ceasing his tugging. Looking out the ship window, he sees his friends also heading toward their deaths in similar space crafts. Strangely, it comforts him until he looks forwards at the nearing planet. It wouldn't be crashing into the ground that killed him; his heat shields had been destroyed by enemy fire, so upon re-entry into the atmosphere he'd be burned to a crisp. It was almost comforting to know exactly how he'd die, but looking at the planet he fought to save, he whispered to himself, "I don't want to die." Tears filled his eyes as he finally realized too late that he wanted to live and set foot on his planet again, see the cities, look into the eyes of his family one last time and tell them he loves them.

Gasping at feeling the jolt of re-entry, the heat closing in on him, he closes his eyes, waiting for the inevitable. He takes a deep breath to prepare himself but scrunches his eyebrows when an unfamiliar, very pungent smell fills the cabin. It increases in intensity until he's unable to bear it and snaps open his eyes.

Lurching upright, he realizes that he's back at the prison. Remembering the dream, he tears up and bursts out sobbing from all the overwhelming emotions. Next to him, he spots Phoenix staring at him. Quickly, he took a deep breath and attempted to stop crying, with little success. So, with tears streaming down his face, attempting a smile, he croaked out to her, "Um, it's a little complicated."