Disclaimers: I do not own the song or the characters from Pitch Black. The song is Lonely by Human Drama. This is my first Songfic for Pitch Black, so please go easy on me. Song lyrics are in bold, thoughts in italics.
Lonely
Could I be more lonely?
Could I be more lonely?
Could I be more lonely?
I don't know if I could.
Riddick sat in a bar on some space station far away from the planet that the Hunter-Gratzner crashed on. Far away from the creatures that had killed him. "Tell 'em Riddick's dead. He died somewhere on that planet." It was the truth. When Carolyn had been ripped from his arms, he had died.
Ashes fall from the cigarette of the man who can't forget
Who learns more from a single second of silence?
Than from any word ever spoken to him
Any poem misunderstood
Or from every second of his past that haunts him
He had thought to give up smoking. It was a habit he had picked up from his time in the slam, but it helped him. In some small way it helped him relax ever so slightly. But he never forgot. Every time he closed his eyes he saw her face. It was frozen in his brain, that split second where her face told him so much. She said she'd loved him, she'd thanked him for helping her get Jack and The Holy Man to safety, she'd begged him to go and save the others, and she'd told him that she would die for him. Her eyes had said all of that in the second of silence before he'd heard her gasp and the shriek of the creature as it tore her away from him. In that moment he had died and a new Riddick had been born. But still, the old Riddick haunted him, taunted him with the seduction of his old life.
Could I be more lonely?
Could I be more lonely?
Could I be more lonely?
I don't know...
Riddick dropped some money on the bar and headed towards the door. As he passed a small group of women, he paused. They looked him over before one stepped up to him and whispered seductively in his ear. He smiled and took her hand as she led him to a private room.
Put in front of the mirror
Why he can't recall
As he stares into the scars he cannot cover
But to all eyes laid upon him
And all the hands that try to hold him
The pain still hides beneath the surface
Riddick looked around the room. There were mirrors all over the place. The whore didn't seem to mind the scars he saw reflecting in them. Scars from shivs while he was in the slam, scars from fights with nocturnal creatures designed to slash and maim. And the scar that haunted him the most, the jagged scar across his leg that had cost him his life. As the woman pulled him towards her, he closed his eyes to see her face once more.
Could I be more lonely?
Could I be more lonely?
Could I be more lonely?
I don't know if I could.
The man crept up the stairs to the room he'd seen him enter. This was going to be it, the payday that made his career. The famed Richard B. Riddick had walked into his space station bar and solved all his troubles. He had promised the whore extra money to get Riddick distracted long enough for him to make his move. When he threw open the door, the feral look Riddick gave him made him pause. In that moment, Riddick turned that gaze on the whore who had betrayed him. The knife flashed seconds before the tranquilizer dart hit its mark. Riddick's last images were of the woman's gasps as she bled to death.
Night passes behind him but he doesn't turn to look
The shackles and the gag will not allow it
So far am I from caring, he says
Or do I care too much?
For the more I give the more I must be given
Riddick stood shackled, blind folded and gagged. Well now, this is familiar, he thought. Oh well, what do I care. I've been running for so long now, running from her, running from myself. Who cares? Me? Maybe I do, maybe I don't. But I do know that it's over. They won't make the same mistake twice with me. They'll ghost me for sure.
Could I be more lonely?
Could I be more lonely?
Could I be more lonely?
I don't know...
There were alarms blaring, men shouting, weapons blasting, and the smell of blood. Then all was silent, all except the alarms. He heard footsteps approaching. He sniffed. Woman; sweat; blood, though not hers. Could it be? There was the sound of the chains being released and he ripped off the hood, and spit out the gag. The room was dim enough that he didn't need his goggles. He grinned at the woman who stood before him.
"Never had a doubt," he said to her as he accepted the goggles from her.
Jack grinned back, "Anyone not ready for this?" she asked and he smirked at her.
Could I be more lonely?
Could I be more lonely?
Could I be more lonely?
I don't know if I could.
"I heard of a pirate in this area, never thought it would be you."
Jack shrugged. "The life seemed to suit me. Then I found out that you got your sorry ass captured and you were gonna get sent back to Slam City to be ghosted. I figured I would see if you wanted to join with me."
Riddick closed his eyes. He saw Carolyn. But she was gone, she had left him. She had left him to suffer in the misery she had caused. Just like the whore who had betrayed him.
Come back, a small voice said in his head. Come back to me. At first he thought it was Carolyn, but the voice got louder, deeper.
"Come on Riddick, there's gotta be some part of you that wants to rejoin the human race."
"Truthfully, I wouldn't know how."
He opened his eyes and looked at Jack. The new Riddick was gone. Back was the old one Jack had known on that godforsaken planet. The one she had looked up to, the one she had idolized.
"So, where to now?"