Title: You Keep What You Kill
Rating: M
Pairing: Riddick/Vaako
Warnings: Noncon, violence, male on male loving, oral, anal, etc
Summary: You keep what you kill is something that Riddick can get behind, especially since he's always lived that way. The army is his, the ships are his and Vaako is his. Simple. Vaako disagrees, not that it seems to matter.
"You keep what you kill."
The statement was an epiphany for Riddick as watched the entirety of the army that had once been his enemy kneel before him. There was silence throughout the room as he sat up a little to take in the full scope of what had just happened.
Kyra lay dead at his feet, something that would not be forgiven, but he was aware that now was not the time to dwell on it, other things needed to be assessed first. Namely, the man that knelt only a few feet from him. It seemed cold but the hunter part of him knew it was necessary. Kyra would understand.
He did nothing for several minutes, watching the army faithfully hold the kneel, waiting to see what they would do first. It was finally Vaako that made a move, slowly getting to his feet as he moved forward towards Riddick.
Riddick was on his feet almost instantly, prepared for a fight, leading Vaako to abruptly stop where he had made it to the top of the platform and awkwardly drop one knee down, again taking the kneeling stance with the axe balanced across his knee.
The submissive gesture did not soothe Riddick's wariness and he quickly approached the kneeling man. If there was going to be a fight he wanted it to happen when he decided, not when the other man decided to attack. He had the chance to see the fear flash across Vaako's face before the man moved abruptly, the quick movement making Riddick tense. Instead of attacking though, he only increased the submission of his position. Keeping both hands on the axe staff he moved it off his thigh to the ground, following it down. It brought him lower as it tucked his bent knee a little further under him and forced his head down.
Vaako didn't look up as he approached, though Riddick wasn't foolish enough to let the blatant show of submission lull him into a complete sense of security. He stood in front of him, tilting his head as he studied him.
Riddick could tell the man was trying to stay relaxed but the longer he stood over him the tenser he appeared. Vaako spoke softly without looking up, "My Lord."
The side of Riddick that he used to think of as his 'primitive' side, now what he thought must be the Furyan, helped him to read Vaako. Despite that logically he knew the man was his biggest threat, Vaako had just tried to kill the previous Lord Marshall after all, his instincts were saying that he wasn't. He was obviously terrified about what Riddick was going to do, the waver in his voice when he had spoken enough to give it away. More importantly he felt no challenge from the other man as he normally did with those that meant him harm.
Making a decision he reached down, carefully cataloguing the responding flinch, and wrapped his hand around the staff of the axe between Vaako's hands. He pulled on it, a brief glance up from Vaako showed his confusion, but he let go of the weapon without any resistance. He started to sit back up and with the hand that wasn't holding the weapon Riddick gave his shoulder a push. "Stay down." Vaako instantly moved back down, placing his palms flat against the floor.
The necromanger army looked up at him, no… his army looked up at him. There was going to be information to find out but he knew these type of people. They respected strength and you needed to be ruthless to gain their respect. He moved past Vaako, knowing that he was sending a strong message by turning his back to the other man, some part of him knowing that Vaako would not move. When he did finally speak his voice boomed through the hall and he knew exactly what he wanted.
"Bring me Dame Vaako!"
He didn't watch the soldiers leave to find her as he made his way back to the throne. At the command the rest of the army had stood, watching him expectantly, surely trying to know what Riddick planned to do.
Only Vaako remained kneeling and even after demanding the presence of his wife there was still no hostility from him. Riddick knew him to be brave, and was surprised to see the slight shaking in the warrior's body. It was small, he was sure that none of the others could see, but it was odd enough that it brought him to his feet to investigate a little more.
He kicked out, lightly knocking into Vaako's shoulder with the intention of having the other man sit up so he could see his face but he only hunched further into himself. He realized that the man wouldn't break from the earlier command and with an annoyed grunt he grabbed Vaako by the hair and jerked up, forcing his upper body into the upward kneel. He knew it wasn't Vaako's fault, that he had been following the order, but the brutality was fueled by the momentary feeling of stupidity that he didn't remember.
Vaako got the idea though and stayed up. "My Lord?" The question was clear in the phrase and Riddick took a moment before answering.
"You aren't that afraid of death, Vaako."
"No, my Lord."
"Then what has you shaking like fresh meat in the slam?"
There was a nervous twitch in Vaako as he quickly looked from side to side, and Riddick realized he was trying to figure out if any soldiers were in hearing range but from his position he couldn't see most of what was behind him. There was a long pause but before he could answer the guards reappeared with Dame Vaako.
Riddick looked Vaako over, "Alright, this is not done. Stand up and face your men."
The scorn in the words made Vaako's muscles tense but he did as he was told. Dame Vaako was moving gracefully between the guards. She would never give the assembled group the pleasure of seeing her act undignified. She stopped in front of Riddick without kneeling or bowing.
Riddick didn't look at her as he addressed the group. "As your leader I will stand for nothing besides absolute obedience. And I do have the force to back it up. You're all aware of certain betrayal against your former leader."
Without any warning he struck out with a curved blade catching Dame Vaako across the throat. Her eyes went wide as her hands went to her throat, trying in vain to stop the bleeding. She dropped down to the ground, gagging. She struggled for a few more moments before her body went still. Riddick carelessly wiped the blood off the blade on the guard's uniform next to him.
"Obedient. She was not, she would never be." The room was silent, the Necromangers were no strangers to violence and Vaako couldn't help but respect how quickly Riddick has recognized that but the thought was lost as Riddick turned to face him.
"Obedient. You were not," Riddick moved behind him and reached one hand around to cup his chin and tilt his head back, exposing his neck. He didn't fight it as he closed his eyes, he knew what was coming. Instead of a blade though, he felt the other close behind him, "But you can be taught."
He released him and turned his back on him without a second thought as he went to address the soldiers again, stepping over Dame Vaako's body in the process. "Who served as advisors to the former lord marshal?"
Three of the men moved forward from the group nervously, kneeling. "Good, the rest of you leave and take her body with you." Vaako hesitated but then started to follow the other soldiers out but Riddick's arm shot out, stopping him. He turned dark eyes to him, unreadable under the goggles, "Not you." He tilted his head down in acknowledgement and went to kneel like the others but he was stopped once again, half way down to his knees, by Riddick. "No, just stay right where you are."
He didn't like that, that Riddick was separating him from the rest of the group. Especially when he had seen how quickly and efficiently he had taken care of Dame Vaako. He felt like the weak animal being separated from the herd, the thought encouraged by the fact that Riddick was every inch a predator.
There was silence while everyone filed out and Vaako uneasily moved his hands behind his back, one hand holding the other wrist. He would rather not take on such a submissive stance, especially where others could see it, but his nerves were running high and he wanted to keep his hands from shaking like they were earlier. He hoped Riddick would forget about that, and that he wouldn't be forced to explain it.
He hadn't been paying much attention to what was going on, which he should have been, but when he did look up the advisors were heading out and Riddick was eyeing him. He tightened the grip on his own wrist, "My lord.."
"Do you think you can learn to be obedient Vaako?"
He tilted his head down immediately, embarrassed by the question. "My lord I don't…"
He didn't know what to say but was saved as Riddick spoke up again, "Or maybe I should ask if you can be obedient to me – since you've been taking orders from someone this whole time, even if it wasn't your previous lord marshal."
He felt hot like he was blushing, though he was almost certain that because of the purifying that wasn't possible. He wasn't weak… not by a long shot but he was more of a soldier than a commander, he had always been. He didn't see it as a sign on weakness, he just didn't do as well with planning. He finally looked up, frowning at Riddick's smirk, "Yes, I can be obedient as long as I have a strong leader to follow."
"Good." Riddick turned his back on him abruptly and headed towards the exit, Vaako hesitated only a moment before awkwardly following, hoping that was what he was supposed to do. By the time they had reached the door and were heading towards the shuttles he was starting to feel a bit stupid.
"Lord Marshal, where are you... where are you going?"
"On a field trip."
He made a face that was really beneath him, as he rolled his eyes. "A field trip?"
Riddick turned abruptly, making Vaako run into him and stumble back enough that he lost his footing and only Riddick grabbing his arm kept him from falling. "Did you ever want a puppy Vaako?"
He couldn't help his look of confusion, "A… puppy."