Death is my Living
AN: I do not own anything of Pitch Black or The Chronicles of Riddick. I do own any additional charcters and the story written.
Hope you like it!
Prologue
UV-6
Riddick was running. A low hum reverberating in his chest. A steady beat building, a combination of his feet pounding the ground and the blood pumping. He heard a drumming of blood and adrenaline forcing its way through the tiny veins in his ears. This was it. A familiarity; a rush he had hidden from but sought ever since he made his way off of that planet.
The cold of UV 6 now a distant sensation as his body warmed. Jumping from ridge to ridge as to avoid slipping into the dangerous caverns of the frozen heap he had been stuck on for five years. He'd hidden from them. For her.
His muscles stretched and pulled. It had been a long time since he had to exert himself to such limits. The lack of apposite food on UV 6 only worsened the punishment his body was going through now.
"Five years and I have fuckin' mercs on my neck!" Riddick roared to himself jumping to the next icy ridge.
Cutting across the frozen canyon didn't seem like the best idea now. There was no going back. He'd made his choice. The only thing on his mind was why. Why were they after him now?
The answer seemed to be easy. He was Richard B. Riddick. The bounty on his head had no doubt increased over the past five years. But how did they know he was alive? Memories again. Memories of her and what he had told her.
-
"So what the hell do we tell 'em 'bout you?"
"Tell them Riddick's dead. He died somewhere on that planet."
-
Did she betray him like he had betrayed her? Maybe. She was sure as hell more likely to do it than Imam. She had hated him when he left her with the Holy man. What was betrayal anyway? What was hate?
"Toombs." Riddick snarled.
Another jump across the rift as Toombs' skiff flew low over his head. Testing him. Seeing what he's made of. In truth Riddick had expected this. Everybody wanted him. How long it took for them to get to him always varied.
"Riddick…"
A soft whisper of his name teased the receptive hairs in his ears. A voice called his name. The thoughts of Jack allowed his name to be said in her childish voice. His mind played tricks with him. Trickery he didn't appreciate. Wasn't ready for. Didn't want.
He ignored the voice. He ignored Jack. There was no point in listening to his own mistakes making themselves known, like a devil on his shoulder.
"Riddick…"
He heard it again. The voice dripped into his ear like warm molten sugar. Female. Adult. Not Jack. The silky sound played havoc with his body, sending chills up his spine.
The voice was accompanied by a presence. Not a smothering presence but light air, soothing somehow. Since when did he need soothing? He ignored it. He had to focus on the fact that Toombs was hunting him down. Still he ran, his feet ruthlessly hitting the ground.
"Riddick!"
The strong yet smooth voice suddenly shrieked his name. She commanded him to listen. The cry was accompanied by an intense shooting pain through his vertebrae traveling up to his cortex. His hands jerked to his head trying to lessen the throbbing, but failed to do so when a gust of wind caught him off balance and he fell to the ground.
His head hit hard against the cold plateau. A split second spent on the ice as he realized that he was in fact human. His humanity evident by the warm blood trickling from his eyebrow and as he opened his eyes a large rock lay in front of him. The rock larger than his fist with a sharp pointed edge no less than four inches in length smudged with his blood.
He touched the nick before reality returned. Toombs' skiff swooped down and Riddick turned onto his back; the heat from the thrusters washed over him as they passed.
"It's a cut. You'll get over it. Now get your ass up and run."
Her words were stained with sarcasm. His mind searched for reason behind the intangible figure plaguing his thoughts only to be coerced to set aside any thoughts for later.
"Now, Riddick!"
With the woman demanding action from him, Riddick jumped to his feet in one swift movement and continued his treacherous journey across the glassy plain. He didn't follow orders often and he assured himself that it was a once only.
Noticing the mountains in front of him Riddick knew it was a good chance for shelter. A chance to surprise Toombs.
"Stupid fuck." Riddick growled. A net intended to capture Toombs' bounty narrowly missed its target. Riddick.
"You're gettin' slow, Riddick. Spending five years here frozen some bones?"
Humor? It's laughing. She's laughing. Insulting him wasn't the best idea, or at least not for a person he would be able to kill later. He didn't yet know if killing it was possible.
He had to admit that this was somewhat funny. Toombs was after him with a laughable amount of men. It wasn't even a challenge.
"Go north. About 40 yards. Drop down, there's a cavern. They'll lose sight of you."
He didn't have time or the patience to ask questions. Act first, think later. Riddick ran. An old familiar feeling building up in his legs. Speed. Agility. All attributes he missed.
Exactly forty yards and he dropped down into a cavern. His weight pushed down on his knees as he crouched to steady himself.
Riddick watched from the little shadow the cavern provided as Toombs' skiff hovered overhead. He grinned at the fact that it could so easily have been a trap.
"Oh, Riddick, I'm offended."
He acknowledged the fact that she took offense. That's one sign to her not being a manifestation of his twisted thoughts.
"Did you think I was letting you run into a trap?"
How did she know what he was thinking? Was she was reading his mind? She was in his mind. Her tone was unabashedly patronizing. He didn't like people patronizing him.
Riddick only growled, intent on not answering. Not giving her the satisfaction of communication.
"Of course you did. What else would Richard B. Riddick do? You don't expect anyone to help you."
Her accentuation of his full name, the name the slams used mocked him. Bad idea. She was right. He didn't expect anyone to help him. Expectations were foolish.
"Who are you?" Riddick asked gruffly no longer able to avoid the pressing issue of whom or more importantly what she was. He'd heard of telepathic beings but never experienced having one with him. Something was different though. She didn't follow the usual folk tales he'd heard.
He could feel her, a sensation arousing his entire body. Raised hairs. Open glands. He could smell her; a sweet smell. Different. Not human. His ears filled with a hum, discernible to that of the blood still meandering through his veins.
"Get the fuck out of my head," he warned.
Threatening her didn't make sense to him. It was his nature. He couldn't see her; he wasn't even able to kill her for invading his mind.
She knew who he was and he felt uncomfortable being at a disadvantage.
"Riddick. Believe me, I'd rather spend my time somewhere else."
He smirked. She talked a lot. Through which he was gathering enough information to use against her if needed. There was somewhere else. But was the somewhere else, someone else's head?
"Toombs'll be back, you need to keep moving."
She helped him again. He didn't need the help, he thought. He found it intriguing. He wanted to see where her help would take him. She helped him to hide from Toombs, but both knew Toombs wasn't the type of merc to give up after one failed passing.
"Funny thing." Riddick spoke into the cold dampness of the cave. A cloudy spray of heated mist escaped his mouth with his following self-assured words. "I don't pay attention to something I can't see. Scratch that. I don't pay attention to anyone who isn't me."
Riddick started looking around the cave and noticed various channels branching outward. A rhythmic drip of water echoed throughout. It was peaceful. A contrast to that of the world above.
"Yes, of course. Trust no one."
She was right. Trust wasn't a word Riddick took lightly. Many had said trust was something to be earned yet he never trusted anyone except himself.
"I'm the same but right now, I know that Toombs' skiff is doing a second sweep and unless you move out of this exact spot you'll be spotted."
She was in his head and saw what he saw. His eyes traveled upward to the sky and he knew what she meant. The light from the moons engulfed the shadows and when Toombs made his second pass, he'd have no problem seeing him.
He quickly moved and slipped into a burrow. He became curious as to whether this being was in fact in his mind or somewhere around him.
Within mere seconds, Toombs passed over for his second sweep and Riddick smiled.
This was an interesting game. Why was she helping him? Whenever someone helped him they usually requested something in return and he didn't like owing people. It was a simple case of honor and integrity. Not many had identified Riddick as an honorable man. To most he was an animal.
Riddick's calculating mind harangued him. He needed to forget about this thing in his mind and figure out his next move. Cold sweat dampened his skin, inconspicuous to the naked eye but his body was overheating. He wiped the blood dripping from his eyebrow.
"What are you?" he asked. Curiosity wasn't a regularity to him. She laughed again. An innocent laughter, which he was unable to ignore. Riddick moved around the cave and smiled at it. Infectious laughter. Definitely not something he was used to.
"Think of me as your guardian angel."
A guardian angel? Riddick regretted asking what she was. He believed but believing in a guardian angel was preposterous. It opened an entire world he wasn't ready for.
After what he saw on that planet; the creatures. He knew there were other beings in certain parts of the universe. He decided to humor her and continued to listen halfheartedly.
Riddick believing in the divine… Not likely.
"You need to follow a series of tunnels. Keep right. There's a skiff awaiting you on the east, prepped for you to take to Helion Prime."
"I don't need to do anything." It was his turn to laugh. He'd never been one to take orders. Only in the past was he the obeying type, but when they started calling him a murderer he figured it was time to stop. "Why the fuck would I go back to Helion Prime?" A deep rumbling laughter escaped his chest.
Riddick turned and walked in the opposite direction to which she had told him.
"You'll be going back to Helion Prime one way or the other Riddick. Being the stubborn ass you are, you chose the hard way. Then again, why would you give up the chance to have a little fun with Toombs? I'll see you again soon, Riddick. First you need to become Lord Marshall."
Copyright © JL69
If you've made it to the end, it may have occurred to you that we're dealing with the Mythological aspects and it's so much fun to write. If you liked it tell me. Equally so if you didn't. I can take it.
xBx