Break out the tissues girls, this made me cry to write.
This is for Rose, and for Sita. I love Sita's work if anyone wants to read something FANTASTIC read HATE vs LOVE! FABULOUS.
HOT! FOUR STARS AND A FIRE HORN GOOD! Riddick's Sita is her pen name.
(pardon the shameless plug there...)
For the faithful, you all will not wonder how Riddick got his start any longer...
Riddick let Jack sleep for at least four hours before waking her. They had made love twice and when he rose off the bed she could barely keep her eyes open. "Sleep Jack. I'll be back later and we can celebrate the new ship and shop a bit. You need your rest. Anne's uploading Sasha so don't worry."
With this new ship he could move it freely while on the planet without bothering any body. He lifted off shortly after making sure she was asleep and moved to a remote landing bay far from their original position.
"Salim, what do you think?" Riddick asked as he sat in the pilot's chair.
"Impressive. I must say you have very good resources to afford this."
"Thank you. Have you been able to choose your quarters, I hear we have several." He said making conversation, something he never was good at but tried to work on anyway.
"Not as yet, I shall after I have a word with you about my son. He has expressed a desire to be joined to Anne."
"Yeah, heard that." Riddick said setting the controls.
"You will marry them?" he asked looking sternly at him, like a father would.
"Yes." He told him looking at him with his shined eyes. "They're both adults, I wouldn't think you'd want them to act any way that would get them into trouble now would you?"
"Like you and Jack." He answers looking at me. Busted there dickey boy.
Now I'm not leaving that hanging. Not on your fucken life. "What are you saying, that I should make her an honest woman?"
I laugh hard and long, but his expression doesn't change. Shit. "I've already asked, pops and she told me when this is all over, we'll do it."
"You have a child coming into this world Riddick, you must think of that first. You may never be rid of this bounty, have you not thought about that?"
He had a point, not that I like being bitched at by a 50 year old man in a tunic and robe. "I know, but I can't marry us."
"You cannot, but in the book it states that it is merely the commitment made in front of a witness that is the most important." He tells me.
"Stability is something Jack craves, even if she doesn't know it. I watched her cling to routine, and ritual to ease the torment of the unknown."
You mean that's how she dealt with the fact I wasn't there all that time, I figured that out already old man.
Then I got to thinking about our little rituals. The kisses, good morning, and good night. The way she makes meals, the way she works her kata. I see it now and it's fucken amazing.
"I see. Let me work on that okay?" I tell him and look back to the console.
"Welcome home Sasha." Jack said loudly looking in the state of the art med lab.
"Wow Jack, talk about an upgrade." She heard her own voice say as the computer raced through it's programming.
"Happy birthday, you're three months old and Riddick and I have a new ship." She told her laughing. "Bigger brain will make it easier to diagnose and treat, are you happy with the new surroundings?"
"Definitely kiddo. Hop up on the table kid and let's have a look." Sasha boomed, her voice echoing throughout the room.
Jack stepped up and laid herself down on the table feeling awkward. Riddick's booming laughter caught her by surprise as she looked at him watching the blue light descend over her body.
"Hey Doc," he said smiling broadly. "How's the new place feeling?"
"Beautifully chosen Riddick. Wait a moment. Riddick?" she asked as he helped Jack sit up. He noticed her a little bigger and crooked an eyebrow. What the hell? Jack, you looked like you swallowed a ball.
"What's wrong Doc?"
"What do you remember about your birth mother?" Sasha asked beeping and whirring like mad.
He went silent. "Nothing except that I was found behind a dumpster with the cord wrapped around my neck. Next thing, I'm five and in a foster home. Why?"
"There is that medallion Jack wears, was that your mother's?" she asked.
"Yeah, so?" he said not liking the fact that Sasha was picking into his past. He wanted to forget the past. Stay in the present, and look forward to the future.
The past only represented darkness and pain, and the future meant Jack, and the light.
"I have access to considerable information not limited to my medical databanks one moment please." Sasha said and was silent. "Have you ever heard of a race called the Furyans?" she asked as Jack hopped off the table and tucked in her favorite black shirt, a little too tight now for her liking.
"It was a race of warriors that fought like a bat out of hell. But they were all but exterminated." Jacksmirked, suddenly getting a glare from Riddick. "Hey sue me, I paid attention in history class."
His eyes were wide with nervous fear, something that she had never seen before. And she didn't like it when he felt so vulnerable, because it made him mad as hell.
"We have fragmented DNA samples from that race to compare with and my sample of your blood indicates that you are of that race Riddick. Historical accounts state that tens of thousands of male Furyan children were strangled at birth to keep them from resisting a massive alien invasion thirty years ago. The medallion is made of an alloy only found on the Furyan homeworld, which sadly is now a dead planet so radioactive that it glows from space."
The truth of the fact that he was Furyan didn't hit him for several seconds. It was the fact that Sasha could tell him it so easily that shocked him. That in seconds she knew more about him than he had ever been able to find out.
Sasha continued. "Theirs was the race that would not bow. It is a race of hardened warriors, and even the women fought against their oppressors."
"That's figures, look at you, you'd butt heads with anyone." Jack said trying to soothe him but she could feel his oncoming tension and backed off. But to Riddick, all he felt was oddly vulnerable.
Exposed. Afraid. And his rage swelled inside him at the feelings and his hands fisted at his sides.
"So," he said feeling cornered, "what does any of this have to do with Jack?"
"Furyan pregnancies are 6 months in duration. That is why Jack is getting bigger so fast."
"That explains a lot." she said rubbing her stomach.
There was something else, something Sasha did not intend to divulge but the couple watched as the DNA makeup of mother and child appeared. They matched, perfectly.
"Doc, what the fuck is that on the screen?" Riddick asked feelingrage billowing upand not being able to understand why.
"Riddick, I'm sensing your blood pressure has elevated, please calm down." Jack's voice crooned.
"Answer the fucken question Doc." He said through his teeth. She had no idea what was going through his mind, but Jack did. He was going through a terrible time and nothing Jack could say would make it better.
"Jack's DNA has been altered." Sasha told them as he had to sit down again.
"Furyan males have the ability, in order to preserve the race, to alter the DNA of any female through impregnation. Jack, once human, is now Furyan. It is a fail safe in the genetic engineering that was part of your homeworld's reproductive programs. That's why she healed so well after New Mecca, that she didn't lose the baby when, as a human, she would have."
"So what you're saying is that I'm Furyan now, just because I'm carrying his baby?" Jack asked rubbing the large knot between his shoulders.
"No Jack, not exactly. They both have. Both Riddick and the baby have done this to you." Sasha told him. "Through Riddick's sperm, your son has altered your DNA to make you stronger. To make it easier to birth him and his brothers and sisters later on. He's made your appetites larger, your metabolic rate, your ability to heal, everything."
He was still processing the information. Furyan. Warrior. It seemed to fit. And now Jack was like him. "Are there others like us?"
"Scattered around the universe I imagine. But you're the only ones I know of. But then again, I'm just a med computer. That's why Jack is progressing so fast, the baby, a combination of the your new genetic makeup and Riddick being so inner connected to you is allowing your son to grow getting VERY healthy and strong, fast. And that is why she has gotten stronger, and gets more tired. The first baby is the most strenuous. But Jack has good insides Riddick, she'll do fine birthing the baby in a little over 7 weeks."
A son... He couldn't begin to contemplate it. A son, a healthy boy...
"Great." Jack said looking at Riddick trying to get him smile, even a little.. "You did this to me."
"Hey princess, you and I both did that. Don't go blaming me." he scoffed. "Sasha, what does the medallion mean?"
"Accessing." Sasha told him while pictures popped up on the view screen of the Furyan homeworld. It was a world of amber light, much like Hellion prime, with vast oceans and delicate mountain ridges. Beautiful.
Then his heart broke when he saw it now. Black, glowing an awful puce color with red skies.
"Your mother was an important woman. Only noblewomen carried these medallions, they wore them as a sign of their fidelity and loyalty to their mates. It was a mating medallion."
Jack took Riddick and held him, allowing his cheek to rest against her breast while she rubbed and caressed his neck and face. She soothed him from the gut wrenching overpowering sense of despair, loss and guilt.
Guilt that he'd done that to her.
Despair that he had a mother, a real mother that cared about him enough to leave that with him.
Loss at the life he could have led. Loss of all his people.
"The inscription is in Furyan." She began as Jack went to hold his hand and hug him tightly. "It says, loosely translated since Furyan language has it's own nuances:
This is my child, the light of my heart.
May he live to fight, may his star shine bright."
His hand tensed in hers and she felt him hold his breath. "That and your true name."
His true name…
"What is it Sasha?" he asked his voice cracking.
"You will not believe it when I tell you Riddick. Your name is Riddick. Whoever named you must have been Furyan or someone who could read it. It's right underneath the inscription, look."
He went to the medallion, turned it over and saw alien scrawl. "These medallions are holographic devices, didn't you know?"
The shock on his face was evidence that he did not.
I can't talk right now, I'm too stunned to utter a word. "How can we access it?"
My insides are twisted in a knot and I can't breathe. My fucking mother. I can't do this. I can't fucking breathe. God damn it…
"Accessing databanks." Sasha tells me and my palms are sweaty and I can't seem to breath.
"Sit down honey." Jack tells me and leads me to the stool. I can't believe this. Thank you Fat Tony for giving me a ship with a bigger brain.
Jack removes the medallion and hands it to me. She looks at me and smiles, I'm shaking like a leaf.
I look at her stomach and think I did that to her, I fucked up her DNA all because I wanted her.
I didn't know…
"Baby, don't you go thinking that." She tells me like she knows what I'm thinking. "I'm like you now, but that's a good thing. Hey, look at me."
I raise my eyes up and my throat is dry and hurts like a son of a bitch.
"I love you. Nothing is gonna make me think that this is a bad thing. Stronger, better, how can that be bad? Normal, that's for pussies."
I laugh, but I still want to blow. I'm feeling so angry, so hurt this shit has got to stop. But my chest is gonna explode. This fucken hurts so bad I can't stand it.
"Riddick, your DNA is what unlocks it. Turn it over, run your finger down and across in a circular motion three times then place it on the table. I will feed the automatic translator so that whatever is spoken you can understand. It will still retain the resonance of the voice of the person whoever speaks but it will be in English."
Jack looks at me. "You don't have to do this." She tells me.
Yeah I do. More than anything I have ever done in my life.
"Lights, off." Sasha says and I'm in darkness, clinging to Jack like she's oxygen.
A tall beautiful woman, dressed in silver, and her hair high and back away from her face is standing before Jack and I. Her neck is slender, she's a knockout. But that's nothing compared to her voice when she begins to speak.
I can't breathe. OH god! That's my mother...
"My son." She started and Riddick's hold on Jack increased. Tears stung his eyes because he looked upon the face of his mother.
He had dreamed of her many times, but nothing compared to what he saw in the darkness. He looked at herdeep silky sablehair, beautiful creamy caramel skin, and large dark eyes that seemed to go right through him, following his gaze. Her hands, delicate and beautiful were gracefully at her sides and her smile melted him instantly.
"I am sorry that I had to leave you, but your life was much more important than mine. Escape from Furya was the only way to ensure your survival. My name is Layna. Your Father was Riddick too. He died to allow my escape. That is why you are named for him. I am gone but the blood that flows in your veins will go on. It will go on in your children, and in your heart's love. That is our gift to you my son. I did not abandon you. Remember that. I did this to give you a fighting chance to live. Never let anyone subjugate or keep you from that which you love. Never submit, no matter what the cost, except only to love."
He tried to steel himself against the melodic tones of her voice, the gentleness amidst the hardness of her body and mind. But the tears ran down his cheeks like water and he clung to Jack like he had never to anyone in his life.
"Riddick, my son, my love for you is boundless. If you are fortunate to find such love, hold onto her like she is the life sustaining blood in your veins. I love you my child, my joy and I will see you on the other side, with my arms open and my heart full of pride that you are my son."
Then the room went black and all Jack could feel and hear was the wracking sobs from the man with the silvery eyes who let no one in, who killed to save her, who swallowed hatred to steel himself against loss. For nearly an hour she held him, soothing him without words, humming softly like she did when he was ill.
It was only when Kalifa walked passed the darkened med lab, and noticed two figures in the darkness and felt the upset did Riddick sit up and sniff.
"Everything okay?" he asked looking towards Jack.
"Fine Kalifa." Jack said waving him off. He took the hint and made a hasty exit. "Hey?"
"I'm fine Jack." He said his voice rough and hoarse.
"I love you."
"Love you too Jack." He said burying his face in her shirt. "Man, this fucken hurts."
"I know baby." She told him. "I know."
Did anyone need a kleenex? I sure did....