Chapter Seventeen


He slept on the roof that night, with his goggles in place. Helion Prime was always warm, and New Mecca was always bright. The city was alive and buzzing with activity at all hours. The lights from the business district flooded the others, going so far as to blot out the stars. Riddick didn't like that. After spending a few good years in and out of slams and cryo-sleep he welcomed a wide, diamond-speckled space above his head. Space was a constant that couldn't be screwed with. Except in one place, in a city. Cities destroyed night skies, and he detested them for it.

He slept lightly, as usual. There was almost no such thing as REM for him. Most people need deep sleep. Riddick apparently did not. How he avoided dreams and still recharged enough to do all he did was a mystery he'd never tinkered with. He always figured it was better if he didn't dream. They always drained him, reduced him. They were a way for his unconscious to torment him, nothing more.

Jack couldn't sleep at all. The bed was too soft and the pillow was too deep. She kicked the covers back and forth, trying to get comfortable. No such luck. With a frustrated growl through clenched teeth she shoved the whole mess to the floor. She sat up, hugging herself sorely. Yanking one of the thin blankets up and onto her shoulders, she hopped out of bed. She was antsy and wanted to move. She didn't want to disturb Imam, however, so she decided to climb up to the roof to be by herself for a while.

She didn't know Riddick was there. After Dinner he had leapt out a window like a big cat, muscles gliding tight and beautiful under his thin human skin. He was gone in a flash. She ran to the window and scanned the streets, but had been unable to spot him.

At the top of the fire escape she halted, staring at the sky. She too was disheartened by the masked stars. Suddenly she felt like she was being watched. Jerking her eyes over the roof top she caught him. He lay flat on his back, his arms behind his head with his face turned towards her. She jumped in surprise, and took two hurried steps back the way she'd come. Hesitating, she looked at him again. His chest was rising and falling, heavily and steadily. He was asleep.

She crouched on the top step, observing him from a calculated distance. His expression was full of contradiction, both placid and tormented. He was interesting just to look at, so different from his fellow man. His mixed ancestry gave him alluring and difficult feeling features. He was handsome, but not consumingly so. His body on the other hand- it was enough to take any one's breath away. It was unbelievably perfect, exactly what the male form should be. Taunt and hard, and yet he was able to move with liquidity and accuracy. Even in sleep he appeared ready to pounce.

Unbeknownst to her, he sensed her and had stirred from his sleep. Now he too was taking his company in. She looked so innocent, squatting there like a little toad. You'd never guess she'd been through hell and back; not until you got up close and looked her in the eye. He wondered for the first time what she looked like as a proper girl. He tried, but couldn't imagine it. He pushed the attempt aside. For now she wanted to be a boy, and that was fine with him. It was none of his business, really. No body's business but her own.

Eventually he'd had enough of her penetrating gaze, "I don't like being watched," he said gruffly, unshifting.

Again she jumped, almost right out of her skin. She awkwardly caught herself before she rolled down the stairs. "I thought you were asleep," she explained, almost apologetic.

"Wish I was," he turned his head to the sky.

"What are you doing out her?" she asked, crawling on her hands and knees a few feet closer to him.

"Watching."

"Watching what?"

I'm watching over you. Don't make me try to tell you why... I don't even know. He came back with a smart ass remark, "The inside of my eye lids."

She laughed an airy, fake laugh. "Oh."

"What you doin' out here?"

She shrugged, and replied playfully, "Watching."

He grinned sideways, "Watching me?"

"Yeah. I'm watching you."

His smile disappeared. She had said what he'd choked down. She was brave in a way... in a way he could be, but by his own admission wasn't. She was brave enough to lay herself in front of him. With that statement she'd left herself naked to his mercy. He could step on her, walk over her, or take her and run. She was brave enough to tell the truth.

"Go back to bed."

She crawled still closer. "Can't I stay out here with you?"

That had caught him off guard, "Why?"

Jack stopped her approach. How was she supposed to answer? She hadn't expected him to demand a reason, she thought he'd give her a clean cut 'yes' or 'no'. She was with out a witty response, so she made a decision. She bit her lip and stood up, moving to leave him be.

"No," he said, waiving limply at her, "You can stay. I just... I'm not used to people wanting to be decent."

Slowly, testing the waters, she walked stiffly to his side. His goggles made her uneasy, she couldn't tell if he was looking at her or not.

"Sit," he commanded, and she obeyed.

A silence settled between them. It wasn't uncomfortable, just loaded. Her thoughts wandered back to T2, and then to Aliquis. Another curiosity surfaced with in her, and another question was born. "Riddick?"

"Hmm?" he purred quietly.

"Why- How is it that you have no fear? I don't ever want to be afraid either."

"No fear? I have fear. More than the average man. You can't do what I do with out it."

"If your scared, how can you fight? Why don't you run?"

"Because you face your fears," he said forcefully, giving her a lesson.

"What about the slam?"

"I ain't scared of any slam."

"What are you scared of?"

It was his turn to give over a piece of himself. "Dying." He turned his head towards her, "As long as I fight I live. That's all I know."


Author's Note: Just thought I should mention that I believe in acknowledging beauty for beauty's sake... i.e., when Jack's observing his perfect body it's not so much in a sexual way.