Disclaimer: The only thing I can say I own in this fic is Andrea... but Pitch Black isn't mine... and Riddick isn't mine... dammit.
Author's Notes: Really long chapter here... I wasn't even aware of how long it was until I finished it... and by then it was too late to fix it. Oh well.. hope ya'll enjoy. And.. mucho mucho thanks to Patlyn23 for being the only one to review this.
Raw Deal
Chapter 2: Crash... and bobcats?
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Andrea sat on her bed, staring blankly at the floor. Riddick was right, she had fucked up his life. She had no right invading his privacy and bringing the mercs down on him. "Fuck!" she whispered. "Carolyn, what would you do now?"
he threw herself backward, stared at the ceiling. She had stopped crying long ago. Now, a distant feeling of sadness settled over her. It was an emotion she was used to. After her sister had passed, she shoved everything away, happiness, sadness... the only things that remained were her rage and the pain.
"You're an idiot, Andy," she said, berating herself.
"Oh, I wouldn't go that far."
Andrea nearly jumped out of her skin. Riddick leaned against the door, looking casual enough to make her want to puke. She propped herself on her elbows and glared at him. "What?"
He held up a folded piece of paper. She recognized it right away as the letter. "Where did you get that?" she asked quietly.
Riddick shrugged. "Fell outta your pocket. I didn't know she did this."
Andrea slumped backward again. "Yeah, she probably hid it in the skiff while she was doing sys checks."
She heard the heavy thudding of his boots as he drew near. "This is why you came after me, isn't it?"
"Isn't it fucking obvious, Riddick? That's how I knew everything."
He sat down on the edge of the bed, held the letter toward her. "Who did win?" he asked.
The question made her sit up. A quiet chuckle worked its way out of her. "When we were kids, our mother used to tell us the story of the tortoise and the hare all the time. It was our favorite story. Care and I would get into arguments every time we heard it about who won. I always said it was the hare because he was faster and more competitive. Care said it was the tortoise because he was intelligent and the hare was lazy."
"So, who won?"
Andrea shook her head. "I don't know... Mom never finished the tale because we were always arguing about it. She told us that the tale ended the way we wanted it to, but it would never if we couldn't agree. She was always like that, settling things easily. My mom was wise... and loving, and kind... and that bastard took her from us!" she finished in a yell.
"Sounds like he deserved what you gave him," Riddick told her. She looked up at him then, wide-eyed and her mouth open just slightly. He stared back at her until she spoke.
"No one ever said that," she told him. "They all told me I was a murderous bitch and that I'd burn in hell for killing my own father. All except for Carolyn. She knew what he was like. His temper, his fury, his fists... she knew... and she didn't blame me."
Riddick set the letter on the bed, stood. "You got another room on this ship where I can catch a few winks?"
"Yeah," she said. She pointed out the door. "Across the hall is a bedroom the same size as this one. If you want a shower though, you have to take one in here."
"Gotcha." She listened to his retreating steps with mild interest. Riddick, you are a piece of work, she thought.
Standing, she realized that she was exhausted, so she changed quickly into a pair of baggy lounge pants and a tank top, and crawled into bed. "Lights off," she muttered. She yawned, and closed her eyes, letting her body sink into the softness of her bed. This ship was the only place she could ever really sleep well in. She guessed it was because Carolyn had never been there and left an imprint on it, and she didn't feel haunted by her ghost.
As she drifted off to her usual dreamless sleep, a quick thought crossed her mind. I guess down there on that planet, the tortoise won.
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Across the hall, Riddick lay on his back, goggles off, gazing up at the black ceiling. Shit had happened way to fast for him, and he realized he was on the run in a ship belonging to the twin sister of a dead woman who had changed him. In Andrea's presence, he seemed to take it all in stride, but in his mind, he was a wreck.
He wondered briefly what would have happened if he had never been caught by Johns, and they hadn't book passage on the Hunter-Gratzner. Would he still be cruising around the galaxy, killing people because he could? Would he have ever met someone like Carolyn Fry who challenged him to return to humanity? Would he now be on a ship with a woman who fucked his senses up until he could barely stand?
It was a two-week trip to New Mecca. A lot could happen in two weeks, he knew. But this time, whatever was sent his way, he'd handle it. And this time... he had a little help.
With those comforting thoughts in his mind, he drifted off into an easy, light sleep.
He awoke a few hours later, feeling strangely refreshed. Except that he wanted a shower... he wanted a shower bad. Swinging his legs over the side of the bed, he walked quietly across the hall and into Andrea's room. He saw her, lying in bed, her blankets hanging on the floor. He paused to study her. He could see now, her face was just a little more angular than Carolyn's, not as round. His eyes roamed lower. Her chest was bigger, as well, and she had more muscle... much more muscle. He picked up her blankets and draped them over her, before heading into the bathroom.
It happened while he was letting the water wash away the grime from the past day. An alarm started going off, and the ship lurched. It felt just like it had when the Hunter-Gratzner was knocked into the orbit of the planet. He turned the water and rushed out of the bathroom, wrapping a towel around his waist as he ran.
Andrea was already in the cockpit, hands on the controls.
"What the fuck happened?" Riddick bellowed.
"A fucking satellite from God-knows-where just slammed into us!" she screamed.
He dropped himself into the co-pilot seat, grabbed the controls as well. Out the view screen, he could see the stars streaking as the ship spun out of control, heading toward a planet. Just like last time, he thought. "Why can't we get her under control?"
Andrea grunted as she pulled back as hard as she was able. "Because the God damned satellite crushed our navigation unit!"
"Fuck!" Riddick exclaimed. The planet was coming closer, the ship was spiraling toward it at a top-notch speed.
"We're gonna crash!" Andrea screamed.
Riddick growled. "The fuck we are!" he answered. He took a deep breath, and pulled back with all his might. Andrea helped, and the ship began to level out. It was too late, she thought, seeing the ground rushing up to meet them.
The impact sent her flying out of the seat, crashing into a few metal cargo boxes. The ship seemed to flip, and she fell toward the ceiling, then back down. A box that had been secured to the ceiling dislodged itself and hit her in the head. As the world went black, she saw Riddick, hanging on to the co-pilot seat, staring at her.
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The crash seemed to take forever. Riddick waited, clutching the seat as hard as he could, for the ship to stop rolling and come a halt. It did so, finally, and he stood up, vaguely aware that the towel he had wrapped around his waist was missing. He rushed over to the pile of boxes that had landed on Andrea, started throwing them to the side. He uncovered a leg, then another, and then a stomach, and finally arms, shoulders and a head.
She moaned, telling Riddick that she was still alive. He left her there for a moment, moving as fast as he could to his room to get dressed. He pulled on a pair of tan pants, with his customary tank top, only this time a white one. His boots slid on his feet, and he tucked his shiv in the waistband of the pants. Then, he made his way back down to the cockpit, carrying the little first-aid box Andrea kept in the room.
He knelt beside her, examined her head. There was a small, but painful-looking cut above her eye. Riddick pulled tape out of the med box and squeezed the cut while taping it shut. He wiped the rest of the blood off Andrea's face with a gauze pad. This brought a small groan from the woman. She stirred, and her eyes flickered open.
"Riddick?" She looked at him, confused. Then, her eyes grew wide. "We crashed, didn't we?"
He nodded soberly. "We have to figure out where we are. You have a cut, but it'll only give you a headache," he said, standing. He offered her a hand, and pulled her to her feet.
"Oh, man," she moaned, grabbing her head. "That hurts like a bitch."
Riddick went over to the hatch, turned it to open. When nothing happened, he simply stood there, staring at it.
"Riddick? What is it?" she asked.
"We're locked in," he said.
"What?" Andrea took a few shaky steps forward, then dashed over to the hatch. She pounded on it, then leaned against it and sighed. "How the fuck do we get out of here?"
Riddick turned, scanned the interior of the cockpit. They could use the cutting torch and drill a hole in the side, but that would leave them with a breach in the hull. If there was already a hole, they could get out that way. "We have to go through the ship, see if we have a breach in the hull anywhere that we can get out through."
Andrea looked down at the pajamas she was still wearing. "First thing's first, though. I have to change."
They picked their way over the cargo boxes that had fallen to the ladder that lead down to the rooms. Riddick dropped down first, then helped Andrea down. She swayed on her feet a little bit, still woozy from the bump on her head. She steadied herself, then moved down the hall to her room. Walking in, she saw the room looked like a tornado had gone through and threw things around. Her bed was flipped over, and her clothes and everything else was scattered around. She dug through things, found a pair of semi-baggy cargo pants and a black tank top with flames up the front. She dug some more and found a pair of platform boots. Then she found a brush and brushed her long hair, then twisted it up so it was off her neck.
Riddick waited out in the hall while she changed, hoping to whatever god that would listen that the planet was inhabited. Inhabited by humans, his mind corrected.
Andrea joined him a moment later, straightening her shirt as she stepped out of the room. "Okay," she said. "Let's go."
As they moved through the ship, Riddick gazed at the sides with his shined eyes, searching for a breach. He found one, finally, in the cargo hold. What used to be the cargo hold, at least.
"Jesus Fucking Christ," Andrea breathed. The entire cargo hold was missing, leave a wide, gaping hole opening to the planet that lay before them.
Riddick turned to her, a grin on his face. "Yes?"
Andrea ignored him, shuffling forward slowly, staring at the damage. "It took me years to work up the credits to buy her, and now she's destroyed."
"She's not destroyed, she just has a sunroof now," Riddick remarked.
She looked at him sharply. "I'm glad you find this amusing, Riddick. But you didn't work your ass off waiting tables at a crummy spaceport diner on Lorilla." She was pissed off, and didn't mind letting Riddick know it.
His smile faded. "You're right. I got mine the easy way. Steal it." Or, at least you did, he reminded himself. This woman's sister changed all that...
Andrea turned back to the hole, then walked through it to the planet that lay beyond. It was grassy, Riddick thought with relief. They had managed to crash into a wide field, with a large forest on one side. So far, he didn't see any houses, but they fact that they were able to breathe told him that there had to be people on the planet. As far as he knew, every habitable planet had at least a few colonies on it.
Problem was... he had been wrong before.
"All right." Andrea turned back to him, crossed her arms over her chest. "What's the plan? Do we stay here and try to figure out some way to fix this hunk of junk, or do we go out there and try to find people?"
Riddick thought for a moment. "The only way we can make this ship fly again is to have it in a garage for about four months. That leaves us with venturing out there, and hoping that there's someone else here."
Andrea felt a cold shudder work its way through her. "Great," she muttered. "Just great."
The two set off, Riddick deciding to head west, so they knew where the ship was. They're decision was to only go as far as they could until nightfall, then turn back to the ship and spend the night in the safety of their still-intact rooms.
Past the field, the forest was thick and in full bloom. The canopy of leaves above them blocked out the blue sky and sun entirely, making it seem like it was already late evening. The rich, earthy smell invaded Andrea's nostrils, and she breathed deeply, relishing in the scent of something she hadn't smelled for years... fresh air.
They walked slowly, creeping through bushes and around trees. A few times, they practically had to get on their knees to move forward anymore.
Hours later, they reached a clearing. So far, there had been no evidence of the planet being inhabited. Riddick looked up, through a hole in the canopy of thick, green leaves. The sky was now a dark, indigo blue, with a few stars shining in the distance. "Getting toward night," he commented. "Better head back."
Andrea leaned against a large tree, rested her hands on her knees. "This outdoor walking stuff sucks."
"What's 'a matter? Can't keep up?"
She cast Riddick a glare. "I'm not used to gallivanting through forests, okay?" Pushing herself away from the ancient-looking tree, she started back the way they had come. "Well, come on, Riddick. I want the comfort of my broken ship."
He chuckled, following her.
They had only gone about half a mile back in the direction they had come when Riddick grabbed Andrea and shoved her to the ground.
"Riddick!" she cried out. "What the fuck are you dmmmph!" The last word was muffled out by his hand over her mouth.
"Shut up!" he whispered fiercely. He pulled his hand away, and Andrea saw him looking all around them. "Listen."
She did, and that's when she heard it. It was just a small rustling sound, like someone walking through tall grass. Then a soft growling could be heard. Shit! her mind screamed.
Riddick was lying on top of her, watching the woods without his goggles on. He pulled the shiv he always carried in the back of his pants out and looked once at Andrea. "Stay here," he whispered. He pushed himself off her and crawled away, leaving Andrea alone, lying on the cold, dewy forest floor.
She rolled over so she was on her stomach, looking all around her. Riddick had already disappeared, so she listened, her ears straining to pick up every sound.
It was dead quiet in the wood, though, and she could only lie there, hoping that he came back soon.
A few moments passed, and Andrea nearly jumped out of her skin when a loud, deafening roar sounded. The roar turned into a screeching yelp, then died out completely. The silence that followed was one of the worst moments in Andrea's life. She heard her breath coming in ragged gasps, knew that if she didn't calm down she would hyperventilate. An attempted deep breath only resulted in her coughing and taking even quicker breaths. When she thought she was going to pass out from lack of oxygen and her own fear, she was lifted off the ground and turned around.
"Andrea, Andrea!"
It was Riddick. Andrea threw her arms around his neck before she knew what she was doing, crying into his shoulder and still trying to catch her breath.
"Hey," he pulled her away, held her face in his hands. "You have to breathe. Look at me, now take deep breaths."
He wasn't dead, he was alive! Andrea forced the air into her lungs, then expelled it with just as much force. A few more of those and her head was no longer spinning, and she knew she wasn't going to pass out.
"Christ!" she said, when she found she could once again speak. "I fucking thought whatever that was had eaten you and was coming after me!
"Just a normal forest bobcat," Riddick told her. "Come on, we aren't too far from the ship." He released her, began walking, slower so Andrea could keep up. The wood was now pitch black, so Andrea couldn't see two inches in front of her face. She held onto Riddick's arm, allowing him to lead her to the safety and familiar surroundings of her wrecked ship.
After what seemed like ages of moving through the darkness, the two burst into the open field. It wasn't yet night, though in the woods, it was impossible to tell. The sky was navy blue, but not black. Two moons hung one over the other, both in full. One was blood red, the other nearly a purple color.
"Look at that," Andrea remarked. "I've never seen a purple moon before."
"Me neither," Riddick agreed.
When she caught sight of the ship, Andrea started running. "Oh, my baby!" she yelled. "How I've missed you!" Diving in through the hole in the back, she picked her way into the kitchen area, thanking whatever gods were listening that they still had power.
Riddick walked in a few minutes later, goggles placed securely back over his eyes. "Does the InstaMeal work?"
Andrea punched in a few numbers, brought out two full mugs of beer. "I think we deserve these," she said, handing one to Riddick. "Now, what to eat?"
Hitting a few more buttons, she produced two bowls of steaming stew. "This okay?"
"Perfect," Riddick said, a smile gracing his face for a moment. He took one of the bowls from her, digging hungrily into it.
They were done in record time, both being too hungry to bother with small talk as they ate. When they were finished, Andrea went to the cockpit to see what, besides the breach in the hull, was wrong with the ship. Riddick went off to see what he could find to aid them in their search on the planet.
Andrea sat in the pilot's seat of the cockpit, her knees drawn up to her chest, staring out at the growing number of stars. It was so different, looking at them afar, instead of being up there with them. Andrea hated being on planets, she always had. Her ship had been her life since she bought her. She sighed heavily, resting her head on her drawn up knees. The ship was inoperable. It had power, but the nav system was destroyed by the satellite, and the thrusters were crushed in the crash itself. The only thing it had now was light, and the appliances worked.
A cold shudder worked its way up her spine. A crippling, irrational fear bore down on her, causing her to break out in a sweat. She was trapped. Trapped on a planet, that may or may not be inhabited, with a man she had only just met. Riddick may have changed, but he was still dangerous, still a killer. She trusted him because she had to... or did she? Did she trust him for other reasons?
She heard a boot hitting the floor, knew Riddick was standing in the doorway. She didn't turn around.
"Well?" he asked.
Sill staring out the window, she answered in a defeated tone. "It's trashed. The lights work, the shower works, the kitchen stuff works... but she won't ever fly again."
Riddick remained silent, gazing out the window of the cockpit in thought. "We have another problem," he finally said. "Not really a problem... only if we want it to be."
"What's that?"
"Your bed was fucked up real bad in the crash. I tried to flip it over, but two of the legs are broken, and there's a broom shoved through the middle of the mattress. That means that we have my bed, and that's all."
Andrea finally turned away from the starry night sky, spun the chair around with her hands to face Riddick. He couldn't help but notice how much she looked like a little girl with her legs up to her chest. She looked at him, a sadness growing on her face, and lifted one shoulder in a tiny shrug. "If it's all the same to you, I'd rather not be alone tonight," she admitted.
He nodded, then walked to sit beside her in the co-pilot's chair. "Is it because of the bobcat?"
"No... yes... I don't know." She hugged her legs as another chill worked its way up her spine. "That's part of it, I guess."
Riddick merely nodded. "We should get some sleep. We have a lot of walking to do tomorrow." He stood up, waited for Andrea. She unfolded her legs, pushed herself out of the chair. Following Riddick out of the cockpit, she realized he had seen her most vulnerable side that night, and had understood. She stopped in her room first, rummaged through her belongings that were scattered all over the floor, finally found a pair of cammo lounge pants and dark green tank top.
"Do you mind if I shower first?" she asked.
Riddick shook his head. "If you can find the shower, go for it."
Andrea picked her way through the mess that was her room to the bathroom. She had force the door open, found when she did that the mirror had broken and lay in shards of glass all over the floor. Turning around, she ripped the broom out of the center of her mattress, and swept all the glass into a far corner. Then, she took a shower.
The hot water helped a little to wash away the fear and claustrophobia she had felt since the crash. When she finally felt clean, she shut off the water, dried quickly, dressed, and nearly ran, tripping over the things on the floor to get to Riddick's room.
It was a panicky fear she was feeling, being trapped on the planet. All she knew for sure was that she did not want to be alone... at all. Christ, her mind muttered. It's irrational. What do I have to be afraid of?
Riddick was sitting on his bed, leafing through a book he had found somewhere. "My turn?" he asked.
Andrea nodded. "Be careful though. The mirror broke, and I swept up most of the glass, but there may be still a few pieces on the floor."
He nodded, and walked in the direction of the shower.
Feeling scared again, Andrea curled up on the left side of the bed, took calming, deep breaths. She felt as though she were suffocating. I'm having a panic attack, she realized, starting to gasp for air. She threw her legs over the side of the bed, leaned over and took deep, choking breaths. You fucking pansy! She silently berated herself. You're only on a planet. There has GOT to be people on it somewhere, and you're freaking out... because why?
Because that's what Carolyn probably thought when the Hunter-Gratzner crashed... her mind answered.
That thought made her begin to sob. Loud, choking sobs that wracked her body and made her feel weaker and more vulnerable that she ever felt in her life. She didn't even notice Riddick come back from taking his shower until his strong hands gripped her shoulders and she was pulled into the comfort of his arms.
He didn't say anything as the sobs subsided, and she was finally able to breathe normally again. Then, he spoke.
"Listen to me, Andrea." His voice was soft, but low and gruff as usual. "We aren't in trouble. A place as rich in vegetation as this has to have settlers."
"What if it's like the other planet, though?" She cursed herself for how small her own voice sounded.
Riddick reached down and tilted her face up, forcing her to stare into his ungoggled eyes. The expression on his face was serious and sober. "It's not. If it were, they'd already have gotten in here and killed us both. No, this ain't that other planet. We'll get off this rock. We just need to cover more ground. Tomorrow we'll go the other direction." He released her, and Andrea couldn't help feeling that she was much safer in his arms.
She crawled under the covers, the fatigue from walking finally catching up with her. Riddick stretched out on his side of the bed, flat on his back, wearing only his boxers.
"Lights off," he commanded, and the room was bathed in darkness. Andrea closed her eyes, willing sleep to take her quickly. It did, and within a few moments, she was breathing regularly.
Riddick gazed at her from where he lay. He hadn't expected her to react to the crash the way she did. She had much more of an inner strength that Carolyn did, but she wasn't afraid to be afraid, unlike Carolyn, who felt that she had to hide all her fear. In that way, Carolyn was more like Riddick. But in every other way, this woman who slept beside him was a kindred spirit.
Feeling that sleep was a long way off, Riddick slid off the bed without disturbing Andrea, and made his way to the cockpit. He knew the kind of ship Andrea bought. It was a standard model. Sure, Andrea had juiced it up with extra features, but it was still standard, and the one thing that all standard ships had were conventional paper maps. He went to the right side of the cockpit, found the small cubbyhole. It wouldn't open, so he banged the side of the ship, not so loud as to wake Andrea, and the lid popped off.
"Now," he whispered to himself as he found the maps. "What planet between Narwok and New Mecca has two moons, one of them being purple?" He scanned the maps, ruling out desert planets, and the ones he knew well.
"Hmm," he rumbled. "Tharbid. Two moons... looks like it could be purple... rich in vegetation... home to... aw shit." He sighed. They were in deep, deep trouble.
He shoved the maps aside, stared blankly out the window of the cockpit. Tharbid, he thought. Of all the fuckin' planets in this universe... why did it have to be Tharbid? Standing up, he walked slowly back to the room he was now sharing with Andrea. She had a panic attack simply thinking she was stuck on a planet like T2. What's she gonna do when she finds out we're on Tharbid?
Standing at the foot of the bed, he gazed at her, sleeping fitfully. She tossed and turned, moaned and cried out. "That's some nightmare," he whispered to himself. He was a fool if he didn't admit that he was attracted to her. Andrea was like Carolyn and himself rolled into one person.. one sexy, beautiful person. And it had been six months. The ghost of Carolyn still haunted him, but not as a woman he loved. No, the ghost of Carolyn haunted him as a reminder that six people died because he failed to protect them.
Riddick made a decision then. He crawled into the bed, carefully, and wrapped an arm around the waist of Andrea. She seemed to settle immediately, relaxing into him. Damn, Riddick thought. Never thought I'd have that kind of impact. He finally drifted off to sleep, Andrea's berry-scented shampooed hair lingering in his nose.