(A/N: Hey ya! finally, I was able to go online. Like Layla gurl noticed, I made a mistake with Kyra's last words. I saw it, too, and I was so ticked that I couldn't log on becausei had to wait until our techies could fix our internet connection! ah, but it's all taken care of. They actually took so long fixing it, I forgot about it and the revised chapters I was gonna upload! So thanks much Layla gurl for reminding me..don't worry, you didn't sound mean, I appreciated it D)
Chapter Two: You Called?
For a while there, I thought the boys had gotten me an early birthday present. But upon closer inspection, she looked too good to be a hooker. She looked unique, with the beauty of a wild animal.
Even Richard B. Riddick can appreciate that.
She was interesting…different, yet, strangely familiar. It was at the tip of my tongue but I know I've seen her before. At least I think I have. She really seemed Furyan, so, that was probably the reason why. Or maybe it was that instant when I looked at her and all of a sudden, she was Kyra. Jack! I guess her death really…nevermind. It was probably the after effects of having someone die in my grasp. Someone I didn't kill, let alone someone I never wanted to die. She was young, and beautiful. She didn't deserve it. And it was because of me. I know the kid wouldn't want me to blame myself, though. I could still hear her voice sometimes, her last words.
'I was always with you...I was…'
Damn, I'm gettin' soft.
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Riddick was walking up to his room when he heard a low rumble. He furrowed his brow and slowed his stride. He turned to his guards and raised their eyebrows at them. They seemed to visibly shake for a bit but they didn't show that they felt anything out of the ordinary, so he kept on walking. Just then, he felt the wind get knocked out of him. He suddenly stopped walking and held his chest as he buckled and fell to the floor, a faint echo could be heard calling his name. Some guards ran to his side and helped him up.
"Are you all right, Lord Marshall?" one of them asked. Riddick shrugged them off and stood on his own.
"Did you hear anything?" he asked them. The guards shook their heads and glanced at each other. "No, I'm not going crazy." Said Riddick, annoyed. His guards stood at attention. Riddick looked around and strained his ears to hear. Then, he had what felt like a wave of energy hit him again, same force as before. And again, he heard his name. He looked at his guards stare at him with confused looks on their faces. "Only I can hear…" he murmured.
He thought hard, wracking his brain for an answer. Waves of energy washing over you? Echoes in his head calling out his name? He never felt this before, and yet, he felt like he knew what it was. Then, he felt his mind go blank. Nothing was left except for—
"…Pain." He breathed. And at that exact moment, he felt another wave of energy followed by the loudest call he felt. He ran back toward the dungeons, leaving his guards to catch up. This time, he felt something tugging at his chest, pulling him. It got stronger as he neared the dungeon doors.
"Get outta my way." He growled at the guards. They immediately complied and stood aside. He rushed in and ran down the stone steps. He caught the faces of some inmates on the way. They looked utterly surprised to see him. He chose not to mind them and ran directly for Pain's cell.
"YOU! OPEN IT UP!" he yelled at the guard beside him. He jumped and fumbled with the keys. Just then, he heard a high-pitched sound, followed by another low rumble. Then the earth started to shake. Riddick growled in frustration and grabbed the lock on her cell, pulling it off. He kicked open the bars and gently hoisted her unconscious form into his arms. "Let's go." He growled at the guard and strode up the stone steps and out the dungeons.
"Where's the safest place here during a megaquake?" Riddick asked his guards, walking down the hallway that led to his throne room.
"Your bedchamber is the safest place there is, Lord Marshall." The guard replied. "Nothing can destroy it, as well as most of the palace."
"Save the prisoners worth saving, leave the rest behind." He commanded.
"Yes, sir!" The guard saluted and ran off. Riddick turned left into another hallway and ran to his room, striding to his bed and laying Pain on her back. The door had already been closed by the guards outside. He looked at her unconscious form and brushed stray strands of hair off her face. He pulled on the band that bound her hair to the back of her head and let soft, light brown waves flow on the soft, silky sheets that clothed his pillows. Her almond eyes were still closed, but were rapidly moving around.
Riddick knew he knew her from before…but he wouldn't show it. Not until he knew for sure.
Later that evening, Pain stirred and opened her eyes. She groaned and gently felt the right side of her forehead. She winced in pain when her fingers came in contact with a swollen bump on her head. She slowly sat up and looked around the moonlit room. It was enormous. She was lying on a king-sized bed with sheets upon sheets of silk as soft as Egyptian cotton and as smooth as velvet. Even the pillows were dressed in the shimmering material. A painting was set over the bed being supported by four beams on each of its corners as curtains of lace that lined the canopy blew in the cool evening breeze.
"You passed out." Came a low voice from the outside. She faced her right and saw Riddick leaning over the stone railings of the veranda. He turned to face her. "Sleep well?" he smirked.
"Barely." She scowled.
"You kept calling my name throughout the time you were asleep, I'd sometimes think you were gettin' shiv'd and you needed my help." He chuckled, walking to her.
She furrowed her brow at him. "Calling your name?" she asked. "Why in the fuck would I be calling your name? And even if I was getting shiv'd, it wouldn't be your ass I'd be calling to save mine…I can take care of myself."
She heard him give a slight chuckle. "You're really—"
"Furyan? I know, you only said that about 2 million times today."
"—something else." He finished, a smirk dancing upon his full lips.
She looked away from his glowing eyes. "Riddick,"
No answer. She felt his eyes on her as she shifted her legs and rested both on his bed. She figured he was listening so she took it to continue. "I…I'll help you get to Furya." She finally said.
His eyes brightened, if that was at all possible. "What made you change your mind?"
"Just be thankful…if you keep pushing it, I may just change it again."
"Just tell me. What made you change your mind?" he asked again.
She eyed him. "You don't give up easy." She said.
His eyebrows danced up and down. "Don't you just admire the determination?"
"No, actually, I find it quite annoying." She rolled her eyes.
He scowled.
"So when do you think we can go?" she asked, leaning back onto the bed on her elbows.
He sat across her and leaned on one of the beams. "Anytime you think you're ready…are you strong enough? I don't wanna be responsible for you if you're gonna be passing out on me every once in a while."
"Yes, I'm strong enough." She spat. "And I don't know…I just thought I'd help you…figured you really didn't mean any harm if you actually heard my call…" she trailed off, playing with a lock of hair that rested on her thigh. Her long hair blew slightly in the wind.
"You called me?"
"Yes," she mumbled so inaudibly, the untrained ear would have missed it.
An arrogant smirk played at his lips. "Now, what was that you said earlier about savin' your own ass?"
"Watch it, you're ego's filling up the entire room." She said, glaring at a spot on the wall to her left so she won't have to look him in the face. Her face was burning and she didn't want any more teasing.
She felt the laugh that escaped his lips in her chest. "And your face is beginning to burn brighter than the sun." He smirked.
She huffed. "Well, I'm fine…we can go anytime you want." She said, standing up. Suddenly, the whole room began to swirl and tilt on its side. She staggered and was about to fall when Riddick's swift yet graceful hands caught her before she could hit the ground. His powerful arms flexed as he pulled her up into his grasp. She kept her eyes squeezed tight as her head spun for a few moments. When she opened them, she found her head resting on his god-like chest, her hands clutched his shirt.
"Rest first." He purred in her ear. "You're still weak."
"I am not—"
"Rest." He said again, this time, sounding more like a command than a request. "We can leave first thing tomorrow if you want…just not tonight." He waited for her response. None came. "Okay?" he pressed.
She nodded. He laid her back down on his bed and turned to leave.
"I'll sleep here?" she asked.
"Mm-hmm." He nodded as he kept on walking.
"How about you?"
"I can sleep on the couch." He said, gesturing to a piece of furniture that looked more like a normal-sized bed than a couch. It was also covered in the same silk the bed was.
"That's a couch?" she asked, surprised.
"Yep," she heard him chuckle. He opened the door to his room and turned to face her before he stepped out. "Made for a king," he smiled. "Sleep well, princess." He winked and closed the door.
Pain smiled. She was thankful he had left right at that very moment. The blush that exploded in her cheeks was getting harder and harder to conceal.
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Riddick strode down to the hangar and opened the door. The guards saluted him and stood stiff, others were cleaning up the mess the megaquake had left behind. Riddick nodded at the guards and they relaxed a bit. He walked across the hangar and into a door that led to the conference room.
His advisors stood and welcomed him in. He took a seat at the head of the table and everyone followed.
"She has agreed to take me to Furya." Riddick boomed so everyone could hear. "I will need a crew. We will leave first thing tomorrow."
His head advisor, Wakita, cleared her throat. Riddick eyed her. "Lord Marshall," she began. "I suggest you take with you a fairly large ship with a crew and soldiers…we don't know just how hostile Furyans may be."
Riddick held her stare. "I will take with me who I want." He said. "And all I want to bring with me is a small crew. I don't need soldiers." He continued. "Now considering what happened with your previous Lord Marshall, I can't say I blame them Furyans. But, he destroyed almost everything. I doubt they have the ammo to take us down."
"But Lord Marshall—"
"No, Wakita." He said. "I said I didn't need soldiers. I can fend for myself. My crew will be consisting of a co-pilot, and, say, two scientists. Now I don't mean those beaker-crazy fucks down at the chemical lab…I need medical scientists."
"Yes, of course, sir." Wakita stepped down. Riddick softened his stare. "May I suggest a senior and his assistant?"
"Just as long as they're both good, I got no problem."
"Then please, bring with you Dr. Bachus Pi and his assistant Cadren Aveller." Said Wakita, nodding back at the other advisors who agreed with her.
"They specialize in bio-chemistry and anatomy, Lord Marshall." Said Rolyn, another one of his elder advisors. "They trained most of our medical staff and are currently preceding over the treatment of the ones injured in the megaquake."
Riddick grunted. "Inform them of tomorrow's agenda." He said. A guard saluted and stepped out the room.
"And what will be your agenda once you reach Furya, sire?" Wakita asked.
Riddick thought for a moment. "Right now, it's all just exploration." He said. "I wanna see the place…I don't remember it before the massacre but this'll have to do. I guess I'll take it from there."
Wakita nodded her head. "Will we be informed of anything?" she bravely asked.
Riddick raised an eyebrow at her. Rolyn swallowed the lump that was beginning to grow in his throat. "Yes." Riddick finally replied. The whole room relaxed. Even Wakita seemed to look a little relieved.
"If I may ask, Lord Marshall, how long do you think your stay on Furya will be?" Rolyn asked. Riddick seemed to like the respect Rolyn showed better than Wakita's little display of attitude.
"I'm not sure," he answered. "I'm just checking the place out so it might not take more than a week or so." He said.
"Planning to Starjump, sire?"
"Of course." He replied. "The quicker I get there and the quicker I get back, the better." He said. "Maybe then I'll decide what to do."
Wakita smiled and nodded her head. "I see, Lord Marshall." She said as Riddick stood.
"You all may go…I'm going to need my rest so I'll have to dismiss you all early." Riddick walked toward the doors.
"Safe trip, Lord Marshall." Wakita smiled. Rolyn said the same thing and bowed. Riddick liked him. The other advisors wished him well as he left. They were still standing as respect when the guards closed the doors behind him.
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(Author's Note: Okay, that's the second chapter :D I'll update when I get more reviews hehehe :) how you guys liked it, tho :p
Kae thanks so much!! also for reading my fic...'coz if it were me, I don't think I would've clicked on the link...no reviews. You really think it has that much potential? blush lol
hollie thanks :D it's my first fic so...I really needed that hehe
Angel your wish has been granted! Please read on and lemme know what you think :D
Love you all!)
