Disclaimer: See Chapter One
Rating: R for violence and language.
Word Count: 2420
Author's Note: So, it's been forever since I last updated and I am so sorry. As I said in my last AN, my brother and I got in a car accident and its been a slow recovery, for my brother especially. He developed a staph infection and had to go back into the hospital. But now he is doing a lot better and at home so I have had time to write for the first time in nearly two months. I still haven't gotten the ending of the story finished, but I am closer. Huzzah! Anyways, as usual feedback is greatly appreciated!
The ship entered the small solar system near Crematoria as programmed and a computerized voice echoed throughout the ship. "Untaria System. Now entering orbit around Crematoria Moon III."
Riddick awoke suddenly from a dream filled with dark shadows and Harry reaching out to him, asking why he hadn't come for him yet… Riddick ran his hand over his face with a quiet sigh as he slipped from the bunk and walked over to Lyra's crib. He watched her sleep for a while, letting the knowledge that she was safe, for now, echo through his mind as he stood there.
"She alright?" Remus asked groggily as he stumbled out of his and Sirius' room; Sirius following him a few seconds later.
"Yeah, she's good." Riddick said softly. Threading his fingers through her hair, Riddick turned to them. "Remus, you stay up here with Lyra, Sirius and I'll take the shuttle."
"Why aren't we sticking together? What if something happens?" Remus replied with a frown.
"It's too dangerous to take Lyra down there. The drop alone is a risk and with the heat, radiation is a possibility. I'm not putting Lyra through that. If anything happens to us or Necros come, take the ship and get as far away from here as you can. I want Lyra safe." Riddick answered as he watched his daughter sleep a while longer.
It had been nearly four days since Harry had been taken off of Helion Prime and Riddick feared what he would find when he entered the slam… or what he wouldn't. Riddick growled low in his chest as he gathered his anger and rage, keeping it close to the surface and available for the fight to come.
Remus continued to frown, but nodded. Pulling Sirius close, he kissed him softly and whispered, "Be safe and bring our cub home."
"I will." Sirius nuzzled his mate's neck, rubbing his scent into his skin and with a final kiss, pulled way.
Remus watched as Sirius and Riddick made their way down the corridor to the shuttle stored in the cargo bay.
Once in the cargo bay, Riddick and Sirius loaded a few guns with ammo. Riddick made sure his shivs and two knives for Harry, were secured in hidden holsters under a notice-me-not charm cast by Sirius; ready for easy access. The plan was to have Sirius play a merc bringing in Riddick for the bounty. While Sirius haggled over the price, Riddick would be lowered into the pit to find Harry. Once he had, they would get the hell off the planet and as far away from any hint of the Necromongers as they could. Riddick wasn't going to risk his family's safety on some vague prediction.
Ten minutes later, the two men launched the shuttle and made their way to the prison planet. They sat silently beside each other, Riddick piloting the shuttle, both tense with worry.
Coming closer to the planet, the dark side became clearer and showed the blackened earth's crust on one side with deep grooved valleys and jagged cliffs. The dark side was frigidly cold and hidden in the shadows. On the other, the planet was lit on fire, smoldering and smoking as the sun burned its outer crust with its raging heat. The sun and planet had forever been too close, making the barren planet nearly unlivable unless you were willing to live miles under the surface where the heat of the sun couldn't burn you alive.
When they entered orbit around Crematoria, Riddick grabbed a pair of goggles from a locker box near him and handed them to Sirius. "Put those on. We're goin' in hot and the sun is gonna be a bitch. When I tell you to, hit the 'party poppers' button beside you."
Sirius nodded and put on the goggles; securing himself into his seat as Riddick did the same. With the push of a button and thrusting the controls in a steep dive, they entered the atmosphere with the ships alarms blaring at the fatal trajectory. The shuttle dove through the darkened side, the cold air fogging up the windshield only to evaporate when one side of the shuttle was blasted with the heat of the sun as the planet rotated around. The shuttle slammed down onto the prison's airstrip and skidded towards the opening hanger doors of the underground prison.
"Party poppers!" Riddick yelled over the sound of the shuttle's belly scrapping against the blackened airstrip.
Sirius punched the button and two jet packs tethered to the ship popped out from the back it, their powerful engines taking off in the opposite direction and slowing down the shuttle as it careened towards the hanger nestled into the side of a mountain. Sliding into the hanger, the shuttle came to an abrupt halt as it hit the wall. One side of the shuttle was heated red from the sun, hissing with steam as it's temperature slowly began to lower to normal.
"Bloody hell!" Sirius breathed as the shuttle finally stopped. "Not for the faint of heart is it?"
Riddick gave him a small smirk and unbuckled himself from the seat and went to the storage locker in the back. He pulled out two hand & foot cuff restraint sets with heavy chains attached. They were designed to keep his hands and feet bound together, making an escape harder, but not impossible. They clanged against the floor when he dropped them in front of Sirius.
"Are those normal," Sirius asked with a chuckled "or something special the mercs cooked up just for you?"
Riddick only grinned at him and held out his arms for Sirius to restrain. "Let's get movin', I gotta mate to find."
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The loud clang of the hatch opening drew his attention. Harry crept out of his hiding place and looked up to see someone being lowered into the pit just like he had been the day before. He heard snippets of conversation from above in the guard tower.
"… pay the bounty…"
"…don't take… this one, boss…"
"… Anatoli…a nose for trouble."
The whine of the cable being lowered into the pit made the conversation hard to hear. The inmates began to hit the cell bars and railings, the clank of their hits becoming louder and louder as the person was lowered.
And then Harry smelled a scent that made him whimper in need… in relief, and he scrambled out of his hiding place running out into the open and towards the center of the pit.
Harry looked up and locked eyes with Riddick and felt his body relax a little bit more when they did. His body instinctively reacted to the presence of his mate and the security he offered. Riddick lifted himself up above the end of the rope balancing his weight on the hand restrains in a handstand for a moment. Then he swung his body down towards the ground far below, using the momentum to twist his body around the rope over and over, until the rope was wrapped around his waist several times. The inmates had stopped and were watching him move with shock on their faces as he used incredible strength to move.
Harry felt a grin taking over his face, knowing that within a few moments his mate would be free and holding him.
"Ahhhh!" Harry cried out in surprise as his hair was nearly ripped from his scalp, a hand gripped it and began pulling him back towards the shadowed cells.
Twisting around and kicking out at the person, Harry saw it was the same man who had tried to rape him the day before. With a growl he threw a punch and smiled when the sound of his fist hit flesh, kicking his foot out towards the man's crotch, Harry scowled as the man evaded the kick and landed one of his own into Harry's stomach. Harry gave a choked cry and gasped for air as it was unceremoniously pushed from his body. Stumbling back, he felt his feet kicked out from under him by another inmate and fell to his knees.
Riddick gave a furious roar as he saw his mate being attacked and let his body fall, the rope unwinding from his waist as he rolled over and over, gathering momentum the more it unwound until there was no more rope, causing Riddick's weight to suddenly fall on the linked cuffs holding him and they broke apart. He flipped down towards the ground and caught himself on his hands and feet, then sprang towards where Harry was down on his knees fifteen feet away.
Several inmates came at him trying without much skill to kill him. Riddick plowed through them with a few solid kicks and punches, leaving them groaning on the ground behind him.
"Get your filthy hands off my mate now, mother fucker!" Riddick roared as he stalked towards them.
The inmate who had first attacked Harry pulled him up onto his feet and shoved a sharpened fork tip against Harry's neck, the tip piercing his skin and blood beaded on the surface, trickling down his throat. "Come any closer and he gets it."
Harry sighed as Riddick came within a few feet of them and stopped, his body pulled tight in rage. "Hi Honey; been a while."
Riddick's eyes softened as he looked away from the dead man holding his mate and into Harry beautiful eyes. He gave Harry a soft smile as he quickly ran his eyes over his mate's body to see if he was hurt anywhere else. "Hey Kitten. You alright?"
"Yeah… you wanna take care of him for me?"
Riddick smirked and a second later, the man behind him choked and fell to the ground behind Harry with a knife hilt deep in his chest. The other inmates warily backed off as their leader bleed to death, moving cautiously into the shadows and away from danger.
Grinning, Harry launched himself into Riddick's arms. He wrapped his arms and legs around his mate, sighing in pleasure as Riddick's arms held him close. Merlin, he missed him.
"There are inmates... and there are convicts." Said a man from a level above them; his gravel-y voice rising over the sounds of the other inmates as he moved down the stairs towards Harry and his mate. "A convict has a certain code and he knows to show a certain respect. An inmate, on the other hand, pulls the pin on his fellow man — does the guards' work for them — brings shame…" He continued as he dropped onto the pit's floor kicking the face of one of the men who had attacked Riddick. "… to the game. So, which are you gonna be?"
"Me?… I'm just here to pick up what's mine and pass through." Riddick answered dismissively as he glanced at the man with Harry still in his arms.
Jumping down from Riddick's waist, Harry grabbed his hand and pulled him across the pit towards one of the empty cells nearby. As they passed the now dead inmate, Riddick pulled the knife from his chest and wiped the blood off on the man's shirt. Pulling the other one from its hiding place, he handed them to his mate, chuckling softly when Harry's eyes lit up on seeing the weapons.
"Thanks, Riddick… is Lyra okay? Sirius? Remus?"
"Their fine, Kitten, Remus is in orbit around the planet's moon with her." Riddick replied as he pushed Harry against the far wall, pressing their bodies together and groaning. Nuzzling his mate's neck, Riddick nipped his claiming bite and laved the scar, pushing more of his saliva into it, making sure that his scent was coursing through his mate's body once again. "Sirius is up top. He's waiting for the right time to get us out… probably wait until the night shift starts when there's less guards, so it'll be a few hours. Won't be more than that though… we probably got an undead army on our tail."
"Excuse me?" Harry blinked in confusion. "An undead army… seriously?"
"A little after you were taken, some old hag appeared in our kitchen and started talking about a message from the elementals-"
"Elementals? They don't usually interfere with the balance of the universe." Harry frowned up at his mate. "What'd she say?"
Riddick sighed and looked into Harry's eyes. "Don't freak out, we're gonna be gone long before they get here anyways…"
"Richard B. Riddick, bloody tell me right now!" Harry pointed a finger into Riddick's chest, pushing into it with every word he spoke.
"You showing up on Hades changed the future; making the balance of the universe not so balanced… that Lyra was never meant to be born. A new future's been created, but that it's set… That army I was talking about, the Necromongers, they invaded Helion Prime right after you were taken, taking the planet in one day." Riddick growled as he thought of the now gutted soldier who choked Lyra. "She said that the army will kill every human life in this universe if Lyra doesn't stop them somehow… and they know about her prediction… and that I'm coming here to get you."
"WHAT?" Harry screamed as he pushed against Riddick's chest. "We have to leave now, Riddick! My baby is not going to die, you hear me! We need to get as far from here as we can!"
"I know, Kitten. We will. Sirius is going to take the first chance he has and break us out, then we're gone." Riddick soothed quietly as he pulled Harry into his arms and held him close. "I won't let anyone hurt her. I promise."
Harry let out a sob as he pressed his face into his mate's chest, holding on tight, tears falling from his eyes as he wept. His little girl had a prophesy hanging over her head, just like he had as a child. The fear of her suffering the same fate gripped him and he shook with terror. Since he had found out he was pregnant, Harry had promised himself that his baby would never know the kind of fear and responsibility that he had as a child; the knowledge that everyone's life was in his hands and that he was the only thing keeping them all from death or enslavement. Now his Lyra would have the same fate…
Clenching his fists around Riddick's black tank, Harry vowed that he would do anything and everything to keep his daughter from ever having to live the life he had.
TBC…