I don't own Riddick or any of the other characters if you recognize them. But that doesn't mean I can't play with them.

Also, this is my first fanfic so be kind. If you love it, GREAT, if you hate, tell me what I can do to make it better. Constructive criticisms are welcome, just make sure there's enough left of me to go off and lick my wounds. Fair enough? Hope you enjoy.

She couldn't think straight. Every inch of her body was wracked with pain. Every injury blurred together until she was just one pulpy, bloody bruise. Her wrists and shoulders were sore from being strung up by a chain from the ceiling, not to mention the savage beating her body was getting. Her eyes were near swollen shut, her lips were split, she had at least 3 broken ribs, and the sadistic fuck decided to go "old school" on her back and broke out a whip. She actually passed out after the third lash, but as soon she passed out, they just brought her back again and the whipping continued. But she didn't cry out, she had her pride after all. Soon her whole back was covered with deep angry wounds, and when they started to overlap each other, she forgot all about pride and let out an animalistic cry of sheer agony. She had no sense of time or how long they'd been at it, and she was struggling to remain conscious. And then his voice interrupted her agony.

"Just tell me what I want to know and you can go. Go back to your home with the holy man, back to New Mecca, back to your normal, safe life."

When she didn't answer she got another lash with the whip, and he spoke again, "just talk darlin'. I know you know where he is and it's in your best interest to tell me." His only answer was more silence coupled with her ragged breathing. He retaliated with two more cracks of his whip.

"You seem like a mart girl Jack, why don't you tell me what I want to know? What are you protecting him for anyway? He just up and left you didn't he? Without a backward glance or a second thought. He just left you unprotected, so the real monsters could get you." He laughed a little at his cleverness then dropped down in front of her and put a finger under her chin to tip her head so he could look her straight in the eyes. "He doesn't care about you darlin', if he did, he would'na left, so just tell me where big bad Riddick is hiding, and you can leave."

She looked into his eyes and actually seemed to think it over. He did leave her without a second thought, unprotected and the real monsters did get her, but it wasn't because he didn't care, it was because he DID. It took her two years to figure that out (until this very moment actually), but she finally realized why he did it. He would always have mercs on his neck, and it was his way of protecting her from them. The irony, what would he say if he could see her now.

And for one fleeting moment in the midst of all her pain and torment, she considered taking Toombs up on his offer, but she knew he wouldn't let her go—and even if he did—what's to stop the next merc from picking her up and putting her through the same song and dance that he did. Plus, she had no fucking idea where he was. Sure, she grasped for any shred of news and clutched at every rumor she could find, but she knew he was too fast and too careful for any of them to ever do her any good.

She looked up into Toombs face and she knew even if she did, she'd never give him up. He saved her life and gave her a new one. She'd take whatever they'd do to her, and she'd live through it, if only to pay them back in kind. She looked him dead in the eye and gave him her best impression of a smile and spat out, "Go fuck yourself Toombs!"

He very calmly stood up and walked behind her. She could hear him moving around and something like a bag opening. Then he walked up behind her and got as close a possible without touching her and whispered in her ear, "Well now I'm real sorry to hear you say that darlin', because now I'm gonna have to rub salt in the proverbial wound."

Then she felt a white-hot searing pain and heard herself cry out, and then she woke up.

She bolted upright in her bed, dagger in hand, poised to fight. "It was a dream," she told herself, "just a dream." She was anxious, covered in sweat, and severely pissed off. She untangled herself from the sheets and went to bathroom. She flipped the lights on and walked over to the sink, hastily splashing some cold water on her face. She looked at herself in the mirror and took in her reflection. Her normally bronze face was wan with dark circles under her bottle green eyes. Her dark wavy hair was pulled back into a braid that fell just below her shoulders, but with lots of strands pulled free from their place by her nightmare. She looked like death warmed over.

"This is why I hate sleep," she said to herself. She always had since IT happened. More often than not whenever she fell asleep she had the most horrifying nightmares. Most of them about what that fucking merc Toombs had done to her, the others were about T2 or worse, the day he left. She knew why he felt he had to do it, but that didn't make it hurt any less.

She left the bathroom and walked into the galley on her small ship and got a bottle of water out of the cooling unit. The ship might not look like much but it was fast, and more importantly, hers, she mused as she made her way up to the cockpit. She plopped down in the pilot's chair and looked at the stars around her. She bought the ship from a scrap heap on Lupus 5. When she first got it, it was falling apart, but she rebuilt her, better than new. She took a drink of her water from the bottle and turned on the vid unit on the console. She hated sleep. When you sleep, the monsters will come out and get you. She always went through the same pattern, 3-5 days of little to no sleep, until she was so exhausted her body finally gave out and she had to sleep for a day, and then it started all over again.

She watched the news stream across the screen to see if anything jumped out at her. Nope. Nothing worth any notice. A very rich, very prominent political figure hadn't realized that his private account now had considerably less money in it, not to mention a few very rare articles she managed to "liberate" from his office had gone missing. She smiled a little to herself as she thought back on her last job. She could manage to take a little time off with the haul she just got, which was exactly what she was planning to do.

She'd been on the run for the past five years, ever since she got away from Toombs. He abducted her on her way home to Imam. She was with him for two years before that bastard merc got a hold of her. She, Riddick, and Imam all made it to New Mecca in one piece, by the grace of Allah, according to Imam. Jack saw things differently though. All her thanks went to Riddick. When they got there Imam was quick to find a nice home and sort of unofficially adopt Jack. Riddick stayed with them for a whole month once they got settled. Just long enough to finish healing up and then he was gone again.

At first Jack was devastated when he left, but Imam said that time heals all wounds, and for her it did. So, she managed to pick herself up, dust herself off, and get on with her life. And she was happy for the most part. Life with Imam was simple, comfortable, safe, and somewhat dull, but she could live with that. For now. Until one day she was once her way back from the marketplace when Toombs grabbed her. Normally she was careful—paranoid—even, but then New Mecca had one of its rare rainstorms that come out of nowhere and without any warning. She was running to get back home and that's when they got her. Toombs and his band of merry fucking mercs. They drugged her, took her on their ship, and continued to beat the shit out of her everyday for a month. Until they finally pushed her too far and she just snapped.

She had been on the floor, floating back and forth between consciousness when one of his men came in and tried to take advantage of her fractured state. The fool undid her chains, thinking she'd be too weak or scared to do anything. She came around slowly at first, and then a short stabbing pain between her legs brought her fully around. She looked down in horror and realized that one of the men from his crew was raping her. She could smell the sweat and dirt on him, and when she looked up into his grease covered face, she lost it. She saw a blinding flash of white behind her eyes and had no recollection of what happened next. She vaguely remembered screams of shock and pain, the coppery smell of blood, and the sickening feel of a knife being stabbed into flesh. The first thing she remembered was being covered in the crew's blood. She didn't even know how it happened, but when she came back down from her murderous rage, they were all dead. Somehow, she managed to prep an emergency ship, fly herself out, and get the hell out of Dodge.

She'd been on her own ever since. Once she got fully healed and thought enough time had elapsed since she left the merc ship, she went back to Helion Prime to see Imam, but it seemed he had moved on. She was standing across the street from his house, her old home, and she saw him with a wife and a new baby. Jack recognized the woman, she'd seen her making eyes at Imam whenever they were out, but she never seemed overly fond of Jack.

That's when she realized, she couldn't go home. Imam might welcome her back, but this new woman wouldn't. And how could she tell them what happened to her. So once again she was all alone, abandoned, forgotten for a second time in her life.

But it had always bothered her that she hadn't at least talked to the holy man while she was there, on his own of course. And that's where she was headed now. Back to New Mecca. Back to her home. Back to see a man she once called father. She wanted answers and she wanted to talk to someone who knew her before, and see what he thought of her after. Would he be disgusted with her? Try to turn her in? Why did he give up so easily on her? Why did he move on so quickly? Was there something wrong with her?

She laughed a little at this last thought, "Well there certainly is now." She leaned back in her chair and stretched her arms behind her back, and she thought of him. She was angry with herself for that. He'd given her up, why couldn't she give him up? She always thought about but him but lately, it seemed to be happening more often. It was like something was calling to her. Like he was calling to her. She let out a growl and looked back to the vid screen. Nothing. She had two weeks before she'd get to Helion Prime, she was anxious, and patience was never a word associated with Jack. She grabbed her bottle of water and went to the gym to work off the residual frustrations of her nightmare and the nagging sensation that something was coming. Something big. The big bad, maybe. She wasn't sure. But she knew one thing, it was gonna be a long two weeks.

A/N: Please review, any comments or suggestions are welcome.