I just found this story on an old disk in my closet. It is my first ever fanfic (please keep that mind…please).
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I slowly open my eyes to find myself staring into two silver ones. How I have dreamed of that for so many years. Yet this just doesn't feel right. I feel groggy and my back is in pain, I can't really remember too much of the recent past either, but the most troubling thing that I find about this strange situation is that the eyes I am looking into, those eyes I would know anywhere, are crying. You heard me, crying. I new something really horrifying must have happened. I have only know him to cry one other time…before something terrible happened.
He got up early, not to leave before anyone saw him - that would be the act of a coward. He got up to pack and think of what he should say. He really had no choice; it was either leave and never come back or get the only two things in the world, the only two things that ever cared about him, and for him, killed. He couldn't and wouldn't do that. They had to understand, they just had to. He couldn't remember the last time he was truly scared, but this one of them. And then he did something he had never done before in his life…he prayed.
Well here she was, sitting in their kitchen at 5 in the morning, her and Imam in their PJ's and Riddick in his usual outfit. She knew what he was about to say; there would be no other reason for all of this. She knew this day would come and she decided that when it did she would be strong, for all of them.
" That's a good thing", she thought, cause at the moment Riddick wasn't looking too good.
He told them he had to go, that he had to leave for their safety, that if it was just about him he wouldn't care but the Merc's would come after them too and "I wouldn't be able to live with myself if anything ever happened to either of you, I care about you and I love you and you are the best friends anyone, especially me, could ask for."
At first she thought she had fallen back asleep on the kitchen stool and was dreaming, did he just say he loved us? He sure did. And then she noticed something even more startling.
He was standing up next to the doorway of the kitchen, he had his goggles off so that he could look them in the eye and now that he had finished she noticed that his jaw was clinched tight and his hands were balled up into fists and he was breathing hard through his nose and he was blinking – a lot. She knew that look all to well - he was about to cry.
She did the only thing she could think of, the only thing she would want someone to do for her. She got off the stool and went and hugged him. He just stood there. That wasn't a good sign, she realized, a little to late – "now he is mad that I brought attention to him" she thought. She was just about to let go and step away when she felt him start to move.
He was moving lower, in fact he had gone all the way down to his knees so that now his head was resting against her rib-cage and his hands had moved to her back and he was crying.
"What have I gotten myself into?" she asked herself. She could feel Imam had gotten off his stool because of this new development and was at the moment standing behind her to the side.
They actually stood like that for a while, and she let him, all the while holding the back of his head and telling him they would be okay, that they would be able to take care of themselves and he had to take care of himself. She never thought it would come to this, she thought he would be the same old Riddick, short and sweet and gone. But here was the killer, the "murderer" as some called him, this huge strong man who at any moment could have snapped both of them in half before they even knew what was happening crying in their kitchen and there wasn't anything she could do to make it better, to make him better. "Just be strong", she said to herself, "it's the only thing you can do."
He was crying because he did love them, the only people he had ever loved actually, and he was going to miss them but he was also crying for himself. He never had anyone, let alone two people, treat him as a human being before. They cared about him and not because they were scared of him, but because they didn't see him as everyone else saw him. They actually saw him as a good person, and that just blew him away.
They would even make all the food three different ways for each of their tastes. They included him in everything, even games and conversations about nothing. He had a nice home, it was Imam's home but Imam refused to look at it that way. To Imam it was their home and always would be. He had a real bed with pillows and a nice warm blanket and real food. He could even go out sometimes, those who lived here were of different religions but they were all religious and had told Imam that if the man had repented then he had repented.
Maybe even in time they would come to trust him like his friends did. But his stupid past, the past he couldn't get away from no matter what he did (or didn't do) would haunt him forever, always making him "the murder", always keeping him from being truly happy. He cried for the life he could have had, the life he should have had.
He had to go, before he changed his mind…
He finally stood back up and released her. He reached over and gave Imam one of those guy hugs with all the patting on the back and telling each other to take care of themselves. Riddick then picked up the duffle bag that was beside him, grabbed the back of her head, bent down and gave her a kiss on the forehead, told her to be good. She promised…and then he was gone.
The rest of the day she pretty much spent in a daze, in shock probably. She went to bed that night and had a good cry, for all of them, and then prayed (Imam had taught her) and then with a feeling of sadness but peace closed her eyes. She was just about to fall asleep when she sat straight up in her bed – with the most horrible feeling she ever had.
She forgot something important, in fact the most important thing ever. She couldn't believe it, re-running the events of this morning in her mind, in denial that she could be so mean, so evil. Yeah she forgot, and now it would follow her everywhere, causing her to be sick everyday, not eating, not sleeping. She forgot to tell him something. Forgot to tell him she loved him too.
How could she do that? How could she not tell him? He deserved, no, needed to know, and needed to hear the words. He probably never heard those words in his life and she doesn't tell him? Maybe deep down inside she really was evil, what other excuse would there be?
And in the course of a month she was gone. She left Imam a note telling him not to worry about her. She wasn't as good of a person as Riddick apparently, she couldn't even tell Imam goodbye to his face.
She had to find him, had to tell him.
Riddick couldn't believe it, she was alive! All that trouble, all the aggravation finally over. Soon after he became the Lord Marshall he wanted to leave. Take Kyra, who the quasi-deads had been able to keep barely alive, to someone, anyone that would be able to heal her.
That's when Dame Vaako came to speak with him. She told him that he needed to take Kyra to the Underverse, along with all the rest of them of course, and the Underverse would be able to heal her. Dame Vaako needed time to figure out her next move. Riddick would probably leave her husband in charge if he was to go but she was still worried about the prophecy, knew that while Riddick was still alive he would always be a threat. She needed time to figure out his undoing.
Riddick of course did not believe a word she said but decided to discuss the option with the Elemental. She was now free thanks to Riddick and was serving as an advisor to him of sorts. She said that the plan Dame Vaako suggested might very well work. The only problem was that the Underverse wasn't that easy to get into.
The reason why all of the other Lord Marshals only made it close to the Underverse wasn't their choice. They turned around because the planet would have killed them, only those who deserved to be there could enter. That is why the Necro-mongers had to kill all other life before they could enter, their way would be the right way, the only way.
"What if we went into Underverse now?" Riddick asked.
"We would die" she replied.
"We or them?" She understood what he meant. He would call a meeting later that evening and announce that they had been called to Underverse through a vision he had. They bought that of course, not only because they wanted to go but because they really had no other choice, he was their leader after all.
Dame Vaako believed something was going on but what could possibly be better than going to the Underverse? She would have to keep her eyes and ears open to see if anything suspicious happened along the way.
Riddick and Aereon decided to keep a low profile until the last possible moment. Each day he would go and sit with Kyra and the rest of the time he spent in his quarters. The Elemental spent her time researching what they should do once, and if, they arrived on the planet.
They finally arrived at the planet. While in orbit Riddick called the assembly together and announced their arrival. Gave a little speech about how through their dedication and faith they were finally being rewarded, blah, blah, blah. As usually they ate it up.
He then ordered a small ship for himself to go down to the surface with the Armada right behind him. He had wanted two ships, one for himself and one for Aereon and Kyra, just in case the planet didn't let him through, but the Elemental reasoned with him that that wouldn't be necessary.
"You better be right, I don't want us all to get killed if I don't get through," Riddick said as they settled into their seats in the small ship.
"Out of all three of us Riddick, I believe you have the best chance."
"What kind of backwards planet is this then" Riddick responded with his trademark smirk. Kyra lay in the back hooked to all sorts of medical equipment, still unconscious and barely breathing.
By the time word reached Dame Vaako that Riddick, Aereon, and Kyra had gone ahead and they were to follow it would be too late. She had started running before the other women even finished speaking. She knew what Riddick was up to, it was all so clear now.
How stupid could they all be to believe a Furyan? As she ran into the control room she was able to yell out stop at the exact same time as her husband pushed the lever forward, the lever that controlled the Armanda and pushed it through the atmosphere of the planet. Ironically enough her last thought was how impressed she was by the betrayal, it's exactly what she would have done.
The small ship landed without incident except for the fact that Riddick was hearing a voice in his head – he couldn't make out what it was saying but it was starting to get louder and louder.
"Great, now I'm crazy? I guess that would explain a lot," thought Riddick as he carried Kyra up the steps of a great temple.
"How did you know this is where we should land?" Riddick asked.
"I was told", Aereon simply answered. Riddick was about to question her more but they were now in the temple and she ordered him to set Kyra down in middle of the room on a very uncomfortable slab of stone.
"What now?" Riddick asked.
"We step back and let her get to work", Aereon replied.
"Her who?" Before Aereon could answer the voice in his head became perfectly clear, because the person the voice was coming from was standing in front of Kyra.
"Welcome home son, I am glad you found your way, although I knew you would with such loyal help by your side," she said while nodding toward the Elemental.
Okay, Riddick had had enough, apparently these two had figured everything out and just decided not to let him in on it. Shirah, the one he had seen in visions before, bent down next to Kyra and started chanting, he wasn't going to interrupt that.
"Do you mind telling me what's going on here?" he asked as he turned toward Aereon.
"Me and Shirah have been friends for many, many years, even before Furya was destroyed. She was the one who told me the details of this place; this planet is actually the training ground for each different Furyan specialties. As you can see this temple is for training the Word, or Communication Furyans such as her. Out on the plains is where the great Warrior Furyans would train. And in the Great Hall next to this temple is where the Minds, or Scientists used to study. Your mother is a Mind Furyan but she married the greatest Warrior Furyan in all history. At about the same time she was to give birth to you, they came and began the destruction on Furya. Your father came home and ordered your mother to leave the planet, escape while she still could, in fact everyone who wasn't a warrior was ordered off planet. As your mother was running for her ship she was attacked and her child was cut from her, leaving her and you to die. Others who ran by grab her and put her on their ship. They were Mind Furyans and after examining her wounds did not believe her child could have survived. You were just a few feet away, in a dumpster, unable to cry out because you could barely breath. We believe that finally you were able to cry out and someone else rescued you and took you off planet, we do not know why you ended up by yourself or what happened to those who saved you. Your mother has been searching for you ever since, she was very excited when I told her about you."
Riddick would have to digest all of this later because as the Elemental was speaking he heard Krya stirring. He ran to her and lifted her head off the slab, he didn't know if he had started to cry from the story of his past or now that Kyra was awake but he was crying and he really didn't care if the others saw him.
"Are you with me Kyra?" he asked.
"Yes, but it's Jack". He was overjoyed; he grabbed her up and just held her there.
"I am so proud of you, I knew someday I would find you and you would have grown up to be the man I knew you would be", Shirah said as he knelt at the other side of the slab with Jack in his arms.
"You must not know that much about me then", Riddick replied.
"You are a warrior, you do what needs to be done as all great warriors ahead of you did, yet remember that you are also half Word Furyan, which causes you to do this, risk yourself for the sake of others – there is no reason for me not to be proud of you. I missed you so much, spent so much time looking for you" reaching up and touching his face "you look just like your father."
Kyra started to struggle against Riddick and when he loosened his grip she let out the most terrifying scream, and kept screaming.
"What is wrong with her?" Riddick yelled.
"Quick," Shirah said as she undid Jack's cloak "hold her close to you, connect with her".
He looked down to see that the handprint on his chest was starting to glow and then noticed that Jack had the same print on her chest. He sat her up so that the prints would be lined up and held her.
Kyra had awoken groggy from all of the drugs she had been given but soon the recent memories all came back to her including the pain associated with being impaled. It was the most pain she ever felt, she wanted to die…again. Then suddenly she felt an overwhelming calm, like numbness. After a few minutes she didn't remember the pain anymore. It was the most peace she had ever felt.
Riddick held her close and felt the most overwhelming feeling of love he had ever felt, there were no words, he just felt it, like a nice warm blanket around you on a cold day.
"I knew you would save me, I knew you would come back for me." Jack was speaking to him in his mind. He finally felt her relax in his arms and he let go of the connection.
"She will not remember again for another couple of days, you have given her strength to block out the pain", Shirah noted.
"You mean the pain will keep coming back?" Riddick asked.
"No, you will be able to stop it permanently after your training. I must go now to prepare for your arrival. I love you and will see you soon in person." She turned to go but turned back to say, "tell Jack that her parents saved my life and for it gave the ultimate sacrifice, I shall never forget them".
"Let's get her back to the ship", Riddick said he scooped Jack up and carried her back. Aereon gave him the coordinates to their destination.
"Where is this?" Riddick asked.
"My home, where your mother is", Aereon replied.
He set Jack down on the bed and then went around the other side of the bed and lay down beside her. She was still very weak from the many weeks of inactivity and exhausted from the days events. He then realized that they were lying on top of the blanket. You didn't get blankets in any Slam – ever. He loved being able to have nice fluffy pillows and a big thick blanket. Just then he noticed that there was a blanket folded up at the end of the bed. He got it and placed it over both of them. He lay there on his side just looking at her. After a moment she turned on her side to face him and with some struggle was able to open her eyes.
"I forgot something," she said.
"What did you forgot?"
"I forgot to tell you I love you. Riddick?"
"Yes?"
"I love you."
And then she did something she never thought she would do, that he never ever thought she would do, she kissed him. And he kissed her back.
The End