Disclaimer: No, I don't own Harry Potter or Riddick. Yes, I do cry myself to sleep at night because of this. Tragic, I know..
"You can see it?!"
"What the fuck is it?" Riddick growled.
Harry gestured wildly at Death, ignoring Riddick's question. "This. Right here. You can see it?"
"Of course I can fucking see. What the hell is it?"
Harry started pacing the length of the cell while Riddick watched him and Death intently. "I mean I knew he was different. But I mean come on," Harry mumbled to himself. "How could I have seen this coming. No one. Not once. Unless..." Harry looked over at Riddick appraisingly than shook his head. "No, that can't be it. Definitely alive. I mean i felt-"
Harry stopped pacing for a moment and turned to Death. "He's not dead, right?" That would be just his luck, lusting after a dead guy.
In his entire reign as Master of Death, Harry had never met anyone other than himself who could see it. This wasn't the first time Death had shown up in the company of others. Harry personally thought Death enjoyed making Harry look like he was talking to himself. Death denied it of course.
"No, Master. I don't know what he is, but he is very much alive. You should keep him though. He looks like fun."
Harry looked back at Riddick. The man was tensed, his muscles coiled waiting to spring. Alpha, Riddick had called himself. Harry could see it. The man was an apex predator. Riddick's mercury eyes were shifting from Harry to Death and back. Even now when he was still stunned from the revelation, Harry shivered under the intensity of that gaze.
Harry grinned at Death. "Doesn't he though? I think I just might."
"Look, I don't know what the fuck that is," Riddick said pointing at Death, "but you better start talking. Now."
"I promised you answers, and I'll deliver. You'll have to give me a moment for shock. No one but me has ever seen it before."
"Just tell me what he is."
"It. It hates being called a he or a she. And trust me it does not bode well with mortals to argue. Of course it went through a phase a few millennia ago where it refused to answer to anything other than-"
"Master! I thought we agreed not to bring that up," Death shrieked.
Harry rolled his eyes. "I never agreed. I just got tired of arguing. If I want to tell Riddick that you wanted to be called-"
"Riddick? Is that who he is?" Death turned to Riddick."Are you really Riddick? I've heard great things about you. Oh, wow. I can't wait to see you in action. You really should let Master keep you. He's a great Master. I remember this one time, they invented a cure for cancer and I was really upset. 'Cause, you know, lots of people stopped dying. Anyway, Master saw that I was upset, so do you know he did? He started World War VI. Master says it was an 'accident', but I've never seen anyone 'accidentally' crash a rocket filled with the worlds politicians into the moon. No one knew how they even got on the rocket." Death sighed dreamily. "It was glorious. It was anarchy every where. So you see he really is the best master you could have."
Harry shrugged. "You followed me around, constantly whining. What was I supposed to do? You know I always take care of you."
It was true. Over the years Harry and Death had grown quite close. They could go for decades not seeing each other, but Harry made sure Death knew he was there. Sometimes he had to reign in Death when he got too eager, and sometimes he had to give Death a pick-me-up when it was feeling down.
Walking the line between Life and Death was not easy, and it took Harry a long time to find a balance. At first Harry thought he had to keep Death from any huge disasters, but that had created an over abundance of humans that Earth couldn't support. When Harry had realized the problem he had inadvertently created he tried leaving Death to it's own devices. Plagues, mass genocide and natural disasters hit the Earth in tandem.
After Harry finally got Death reigned in over half of the planets population was gone. It turned out to be not so bad because it took care of the pesky over population problem, but since then Harry had been walking the line. Harry always made sure to save as many lives as he took to keep that balance. Just like Death, the Master of Death wasn't good or evil. He just was.
There was still work to do, and Death had brought him the information he would need when he faced the Lord Marshall. If this prophecy was true, it would be Riddick not Harry that took the necromonger leader down. Harry was still responsible for finding out what was happening with the souls. Harry knew Riddick would be coming with him, but he did not Riddick to get to involved in his Master of Death duties. He didn't know what it meant that Riddick could see Death, but dealing with whoever was in charge of the souls here was Harry's personal responsibility. He would wait to see what the information Death had was before deciding to share it.
"Is the information vital, or can it wait until I finish up here?" Harry asked Death.
"It can wait, Master. But it is important. It's about my mission."
"Alright. See what else you can find and I'll call you when I'm ready."
"Yes, Master."
When Death shadowed away Harry turned back to Riddick and readied himself for explanations he had promised to deliver.
A/N: I know the escape prep was supposed to go down in the chapter, but there were more I decided to split this chapter up because i don't want to throw off the chapter lengths so much. so that will happen in the next chapter.