Chapter 2

Summery – Same old, same old.

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Two years.

Two fuckin' years I've been sitting on this rock. Waiting.

I know they won't find me here. I've hidden well, it's what I do.

So now I wait.

And I try to ignore the thoughts which keep fuckin' with my head.

I can't help but think of her. I can't help wanting to go back, just to see how she is.

But I know. I know that if I go back, I can never leave again. What if I go back and there's a Merc ship on my tail? What if I put them in danger?

No.

It's better to just sit.

And wait.

I wonder how she's doing.

I

I

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She's here.

Two years ago, we fought. Two years ago, she left, searching for a man who could never understand how much he hurt her. Two years ago, I feared she was dead.

And now she's back.

I know that wherever she's come from, she's been running. She must have been eager to get back.

"Imam," she greets me. Her voice is different now, stronger, deeper. She has grown, in every way. Except one. She still wears the same baggy clothes, thread-bare and worn now. Still trying to pass yourself off as a boy, Jack?

I take a step towards her in greeting, but she takes two backwards.

"Imam, I can't stay." She tells me. My heart sinks. "They'll be looking for me in a few hours."

I have to ask her: "They?"

She gives a gesture somewhere between a nod and a shrug, and I do not ask again.

I know what she wants now, why she's here.

"Imam," she begins again, "tells me where he is."

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I already know that for the results I want, I'll have to play the pity card. But I know how badly that would hurt holy man, and I'm not too jazzed about the idea either.

"I can't," he tells me.

Oh well, desperate times.

I pull my own grey sweatshirt over my head to reveal a complex criss-cross of scars covering every available inch of my skin. Holy Man looks completely shocked, like he could feint or something. He makes a few steps towards, me, but I just back.

I'm not that bothered about getting my scars out for him…god knows I've had to play the same card over the last few months just to get back here. But still, this is Imam…and the look on his face, the knowledge that I've hurt him…damn, I feel like shit.

"Imam…" I don't know what to say. So I don't.

"I went looking. I didn't know where I was going, so I just signed up with the first ship which came into dock. "

"Which was?"

I pause, and for a moment, I consider just taking off again. I grab the sweat-shirt and begin to pull it back over my head.

"A Merc ship." I tell him quietly. "I signed on with a Merc ship."

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"You..."

So, this must be the infamous Jack.

From what I heard she was an ungrateful child, nothing Imam did was enough. She left the home he offered her as soon as she got to it.

I love my husband dearly, and I know I should listen to him when he tells me that she was a lovely girl, just confused, but I cannot understand why she would refuse what was so openly given to her. And now she's back here, upsetting my poor Imam.

"I joined on with them because I told them that I could help them find Riddick. If they found the planet, I could bring him out of hiding. They took me on, and I thought they'd bought it. They said they knew where Riddick was, and they'd take me on, because I claimed I could bring him out of hiding, blah blah, all that shit." I see Imam flinch at the use of the profanity, but the child seems ignorant to it. "They slaved me out in less than a month. Rykangolls. Of course, imagine what they did."

He gestures to the girls now covered arms.

"They did that?" He asks, and I hear the pain in his voice.

"No." the girl tells him. "They did worse."

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She's safe now. Both of them are. Even if they hate men for leaving, even if she's still waiting for me to come back, at least she can.

At least she's safe, and at least no one can hurt her now.

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I know what my face must look like, and I imagine it would not be much differant if she had suddenly burst into glorious song.

I try to repeat the words, to ensure I heard them correctly, but the words won't come.

She's fourteen years old.

Why would she allow this to happen?

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"I tried to tell you, Imam."

I know that my words have hit home with him, and I know that he is feeling guilty as hell now. That wasn't what I wanted, but I know it's the only way to make him tell me.

"I tried to tell you. I could not stay here. I had to find him, Imam, I had to try."

"You tried," he tells me. "And you failed. Give up while you still can."

I shake my head.

"I will not give up, Imam. I will keep looking for him. If need be, I'll even stay with the Mercs."

His face falls. He is torn between telling me and trying to make me stay. I can see it in his face.

"You won't talk me out of leaving, Imam." I tell him. "At least tell me where I'm going. If I know where he is, then I can jump merchant transports until I get there. I'll be safe, Imam."

Still torn.

"Imam, please."

Still nothing.

"Imam, I will leave with them tonight if you don't tell me where he is."

He glares at me. He knows I'm black-mailing him, and he hates me for it. But he knows Riddick will kill him if I'm hurt.

"I know where he is," he tells me at last.

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End Notes – Just one, but it's important.

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