Under the Suns
Chapter Twenty-One
"It has been very good to know you," Imam said, his arms sliding from around Laramie, "I wish you luck in your voyage." He glanced past her, leaning in before he said the next. "And safe travels." Laramie had tried her best to ignore Riddick completely from the moment she'd woken up this morning. No reason to let him ruin her day. The others had sensed the tension there and had pulled her to the side twice now to ask if she was sure she wanted to go with him.
"Who else will take me," she'd asked them with a reassuring smile. None of them had had an answer so they left it be. She hadn't told them what he'd done, and she wasn't sure what they heard, but she was almost positive they sensed a change. Jack had already given her a parting nod and Shazza had promised to swing by Gloria and visit soon.
Riddick turned and stepped off of the ramp and onto the ship, stomping slightly so his footsteps would be heard. She frowned and gave the others one last wave before turning to board. Shazza had gone back and bought her a few more dresses to make up for the clothes she'd lost on the old ship. It was a kind gesture and Laramie had promised to pay her back when they met again.
By the time she stepped foot onto the ship, the ramp was already lifting behind her. She settled into a chair between two sleeping chambers and hunched silently, trying her best not to acknowledge his presence. The anger had faded some when she woke up, but the moment she'd seen him at the ship it flooded back in on a wave pushed by the sense of betrayal.
The ship thrust forward shakily and launched off of the loading docks and into the faded blue of the sky, leaving the beauty of New Mecca to fall away from them. She spared a single, short glance at his back and found him pushing buttons, seemingly at random. He ran out of buttons to push and his hand slid away someplace where she couldn't see them around the back of the chair.
Once the ride finally smoothed out and they plunged into the deep, sparkling of space, he set course and initiated the autopilot. A persistent tapping brought her eyes up from where she'd fixed them on the floor. Riddick was patting the co-pilot's seat with is hand, palm down. He hadn't even turned to look at her, just beckoned her over like an animal. She refocused her gaze to the floor and decided to purposely ignore him. "Pixy," he said.
"My name is not pixy," she snapped.
"So we're on a name to name basis now," he asked. His voice was louder so she knew, without looking, he had turned to look at her now.
"If we have to be, yes," she said, "I, personally, would prefer it if we weren't on any basis at all. I'd appreciate it greatly if you'd just drive this ship and leave me alone." Her voice had grown angry, words coming rapidly now. "Would Hades freeze over if you just got me to Gloria and said nothing to me on the way? Don't worry, you can just start now and I'll take your silence as compliance."
"You're pissed," he said, "I get that." He paused as if waiting for her to snap at him again. She said nothing, just rolled her eyes when she realized he wasn't going to shut up just because she said so. "Come up. I'll teach you some basic piloting. It may come in handy if you decide you want to haul ass off of Gloria after I leave."
"No, thank you," she said and left it at that, though it took a lot. For a long while he was silent. Only the beeping of him flipping switches in the front and the dull hum of space on the outside of the ship. He glanced back again and she'd turned completely away from him in her seat, folding herself into a position that was completely uncomfortable.
He swiveled the whole pilot's chair around before he stood from it. "Tiresome life I've lived," he said, starting to move towards her. She was glad this ship was so balanced in weight because the old one had flipped every time they moved. Nauseating, to say the least. "The constant running I can handle. The solitude I can handle." She brought her gaze back to watch him step within an arm's reach of her. But of course his arm's reach was almost double hers so the benefits of the closing distance were one-sided. "It's the part where I come back to civilization, surrounded by people and lights, and realize that even among the masses, I'm still fuckin' alone."
"Why are you telling me this," she asked, "The last thing I want right now is to hear your life stor-"
"You asked me why," he interrupted. They locked eyes for a long moment and she nodded. He had her there, she had asked, he just hadn't answered right away. "When I walked into that little hut it looked like every home I've ever tried to make for myself: fake, ramshackle, and fleeting. A little fucked up place with just enough room for me and my thoughts."
She turned in her chair to look at him and an old familiar enemy crept along her skin. A feeling: loneliness. The bond would take some serious getting used to. It was coming with some side effects she hadn't known about, such as empathy. The loneliness, it was hers, but it was amplified by his. "When you came in," he continued, crouching in front of her, "You were, are, more like me than any, tolerable, person I've ever met."
"Other than my knives," he continued, "I've never had anything that was really mine. When you told me about the bonding on the ship, I decided I wanted the first real thing I had to be you."
"I'm not a thing," she cut in, "And I'm not yours to own." She took a moment and a deep breath to go along with it. "Not one reason that you gave me was good enough. You stole from me the one thing I'd wanted for all of those years. I fought tooth and nail to get off of that planet, out of that hell and you…" She took another breath trying to calm the trembling that slithered along her limbs. "You have ushered me into a whole new torment, one where I'm stuck to you, for good. You blood bonded us, damn it!" His eyes shifted when her voice rose. "Spirit bonds can be ignored. Body bonding is also discountable. But you blood bonded me to you. That's impossible to disregard. Unbreakable, because lets face it, I can't exactly go in and sift your blood out of mine."
"I'm stuck with you, forever," she continued, voice going distant but clinging to a certain disgusted tone, "Whether you like it or not, and whether I like it or not. And it's all just a possession game to you. Just another tree to piss on."
He nodded at her and brought up his hand. Her eyes flicked down to the hand quickly. She'd half expected another knife to be there but instead there was a book. It was small but thick and as she reached, reluctantly, to take it from him, she got a good look at the title. 'Gloria: An Almanac of the Fidèles' lay scribbled in golden letters across the cover. "The building across from the inn was a library," he said, "I got that this morning. The trip will take a few days so you have time to read it." He stood and brushed his hands together. "Thing, person, place, either way it goes, you're mine now."
"Get away from me," she said, it brought his eyes up to her face. "Before I say something, or do something, that I regret."
He turned to move back to the pilot chair, "You're angry; you wanna hurt me, go on and try. But keep in mind who you're playing with, pixy. Now move your ass to the co pilot's chair."
"I'm not a dog," she said, "And I said 'no thank you'." She turned away from him again, tucking her knees up to her chest in the chair.
"So, you're gonna be a brat this whole trip," he asked.
She ignored his question to pay more attention to the throbbing that was beginning to pulse inside of her head. He grunted and she heard the pilot seat spin back around. She didn't bother turning to see if he was still looking because, at the moment, she didn't care. The silence on the ship stretched on and Laramie cherished it dearly between waves of pain. She retired to one of the empty sleeping chambers when the headache dulled down some. She tucked the book up into a corner above her head, shutting the glass dome and switching off the light. Silence thick enough to make her ears pop was the music that lulled her into the sleep that had remained incomplete from the night before.