Beastly Bonds

Chapter X

Your reviews have made me very happy so I worked in all spare moments and seconds to get the next chapter out. Appreciate it or be…mean. Anyway, in your review (if you choose to do so which your really should) end or start with one of these letters. They are choices as to how Riddick and Jack should meet. Yes, it's going to happen soon.

a) Something sudden and possibly intimate, in some remote part of the island

Riddick continues to watch her and follows her as she leaves Caribi and goes to Helion Prime, where he may or may not appear

And if you really must know, yes, this will be a R/J fic. I really don't see how I could not write one. But it doesn't mean it's going to happen just in a few paragraphs. Oooh no.

Thanks to these reviewers who continuously inspire me:

ren3017 – You see, I didn't even realize how long 'Of Schoolgirls and Convicts' was going to be, I just kept writing. If it's any consolation I doubt it will be. But it's still going to be long.

Kashimir – There is no cheesiness in good reviews, I'll have you know. Yes, you've caught up but I'm not a cruel person who denies people their addictions, me having the horrid addiction of anything containing caffeine and/or taurine.

Iridescent Twilight – Your reviews make me so happy. Some more memories in this chapter, actually. Yeah, in COR she definitely looked older. Stupid Hollywood.

And now, the story.

The soft rush of whispering leaves mixed with the steady humming purr that Neunzhen made slowly woke Jack up. With a deep breath, she opened her eyes to see the ceiling of the tree bungalow. Glancing to see that her hellhound was fast asleep, she tried not to move the bed as she leaned to the back. Around a docking hook there was the rope that opened the sky light. Grabbing it, she undid the loops and carefully let the sky light open. She wasn't surprised to be greeted with a dark midnight sky. Ever since she had ran away the stars in the night sky looked like shattered glass, tempting her to touch them but always hurting her dreams in the end. Looking down she saw that Neunzhen was deeply asleep, his head set on his two front paws, which crossed over each other. His tail twitched in his sleep, sometimes swaying from side to side and Jack imagined he was chasing some prey across the volcanic plains of Crematoria. For a moment she was slightly intrigued as to what other natural life existed on that planet, but was soon distracted by the need for food.

She knew he would be upset if she left him sleeping so with the pad of her thumb she traced the inside of one of his ears. The eyelids flickered open and two sleep-clouded blue silver eyes looked into her green ones. His eyes closed as he let out a large yawn, his tongue curling down into his mouth as the motion drew back his muzzle, baring ivory canines.

"I'm hungry and we need to chart this place out." She explained, getting off the bed. She felt the hidden knives on her as she moved, so she didn't feel like she needed the trigger release blades in her boots. Going barefoot, she padded around the bedroom, finding a bathroom and closet of sorts. Going back, she found that Neunzhen had stretched and looked ready to go.

Together they left that bungalow and across the bridge into the next one. Each tree bungalow had a railing-less wooden deck, basically boards vertical to the trunk of the tree. She waited on the deck as she listened for anyone else in the next room. Finding it was empty, Jack realized this was a relaxation room. What looked like a very comfortable couch sat against the wall. A bamboo base held up plush beige cushions that was sided by a small table. The rest of the bungalow was empty but directly across from the couch there was an open space in the wall that led out onto a much larger deck. This one had a wooden railing and the roof weaved of rushes covered it as well except for a small space. Hanging from the wooden beams supporting the dried foliage was a very large hammock that could easily fit two people.

The view from the porch looked out over the rain forest and she was surprised to see that the bungalow tree house was actually on a ridge of a small mountain. She could see the ocean and a small lining of beach beyond the green forest if she stood at the very edge of the deck.

Walking back in she and Neunzhen ventured into the next bungalow, which was equipped as a kitchen. Various heating and cooking devices that she assumed were from old-earth periods were against the walls. It was a round kitchen and it led into another room. The counter from the kitchen pulled out and created a small space to eat from the other room. Sure enough there were two stools tucked beneath the counter that faced into the kitchen. The second room was a semi-formal dining room, with a sky light and small porch as well. As she stood outside she saw that her bedroom also had a small porch that could be accessed by walking around the trees that held the bungalow up.

The last bungalow was a fitness center of sorts. No machines, but plenty hand weights and other devices that even to Jack looked like torture. This had no deck, but a small sink and towel in the corner. Feeling her hunger gnaw at her stomach again, she went back to the kitchen where she found it was fully stocked.

She remembered with a sudden pang of sadness how her parents had never gotten into the new technology and had used all the same appliances she saw here. Try as she might, her lower lip wouldn't stop trembling and she couldn't fight the coming onslaught of tears. Food forgotten, she shakily left the kitchen and in a few moments found herself sitting in the hammock on the larger deck. Closing her eyes tightly, distant memories she hadn't touched surfaced again.

"Jackie! Wake up!" Her fathers voice sounded very happy as she shook her gently. Giggling she ducked beneath the covers and tried to crawl out from the end of the bed. Suddenly two strong hands grabbed her waist and pulled her upright and into the air. Looking down, her father grinned at her.

"Spin!" She shouted and laughing, he spun her around in the air a few times, making her laugh and giggle even more. When he stopped he maneuvered her around his body until she was holding onto his back, piggy back style.

"So, my little fighter," he called her that because she had always had a rebellious streak. "Do you remember what today is?" He asked, walking out of her room and down the hallway.

As she held onto him, she rested her head on his neck, watching the pictures on the wall descend as they walked down the stairs. Many of them were old maps that her mother had found hand drawn and had given to her father as presents.

"Jack? You ok?" Her dad asked, arching his neck to look behind him. She raised her head and nodded, rewarding him with a smile. Just a week ago he had returned from the army where he promised that he would never leave again.

"Dad?" She asked, holding onto him tighter as they walked along the white tiled floor. By no means was her family not well-off.

"Yeah?" He asked, walking through the entry hallway and turned left, where another hallway led to the kitchen but also had doors to the sitting room, living room and dining room.

"What do you think I should be when I grow up?"

"Well," he said, stopping to readjust his daughter on his back. "I think you would do well as a captain. Of a ship."

"A PIRATE SHIP! YAR!" Jack shouted, making her father jump and wince.

"Not quite. C'mon, mom's waiting." He walked into the kitchen and deposited Jack on a stool, where she saw that her mother was busy making breakfast. As she turned, a bright smile greeted her with hazel eyes. Her mother was beautiful and her father had always said that and told her that she would be gorgeous just like her mother one day.

"What's this talk of a pirate ship?" She asked, her voice gentle and soothing, humor weaved in. Her father walked around the counter and snaked his arms around her mother's waist and kissed her neck. Her mother couldn't see it but her dad winked at her.

"Dad said I should be a captain of a ship when I grow up!" She replied, swinging her feet back and forth beneath the counter. As her mother laughed Jack could see the deep love her father had for her and suddenly wished someday she could have that too.

"Jackie, he meant a ship in space. Besides, today is-"

"My birthday!" She said happily, sliding off the counter and walking to one of the overhead glass cabinets to get a glass. She barely reached it, but her fingertips grazed the cup and another hand helped her. She looked up too see her dad getting it down for her.

"And because of that, you should be served just like a…princess." He ended, not sure if that was the right term. As he predicted, Jack snorted with distaste.

"I'm not a princess! I'm a…a…" she was at loss for words until she remembered what her father was in the military. "A high commander!"

She realized she had said the wrong thing when a dark look passed her father's face as he gripped the glass harder. A soft touch from her mother's hand fixed it immediately and she changed the subject.

"Would you like chocolate chips and caramel sauce in your pancakes, Jack?" Her father shuddered slightly at the amount of sugar in that mix.

"You bet! Thanks, dad." She added as he gave her a cup of grapefruit juice. As she swallowed the sour liquid her dad led her over to the kitchen table where she saw a large pile of presents shining in the morning light.

"C'mon birthday girl, time for presents." He said, his deep voice rumbling in his chest as he picked her up and sat her down in the chair, even though she could've done it herself. As her mother came over with a large plate of chocolate chip and caramel swirl pancakes, he leaned down and kissed her forehead.

A deep release of air made her body shudder with effort as she let a few tears fall. Her father had been the most amazing man in the world to her. She wanted to be him when she grew up but he was no longer there. As she closed her eyes again, her throat closed in pain and she whimpered quietly, making Neunzhen look up from his position on the floor. He had never heard a human make a sound of such suffering and distress before, but he had seen it in the terrain of Crematoria. A mother hellhound had just lost her cubs to the guards of the prison and she mourned in such pain. One of the guards had tried picking up one of the cubs and it had turned in his hand and bit him hard, making him take out a gun and shoot it. The dead body lay on the volcanic rock and the mother cradled it in her paws, audibly crying over her loss. It had been very painful and as the alpha of the pack, he felt it was his duty to watch the cubs in the prison. That day he had given up his freedom to make sure this mother's cubs wouldn't be killed.

Jack was waiting on the steps of her house, waiting for her dad to come home from work. He had become a strategy advisor and was sometimes kept late. Her mother was inside cleaning the dishes from their dinner and she sat outside, the evening air calming her somewhat.

Her father, a few blocks away, thought about his small family. His wife, whom he loved with a fiery passion, could not have been more perfect. She was strong in his absence and had raised their daughter very well, though it was clear she took after him in some respects. His daughter, Jacqueline, had a stubborn streak that he knew would get her into trouble one day. Yet she was almost blindly loyal to those she loved and he knew that if it came to it, she would track someone across the known and unknown universe if she loved them enough. Sighing as he turned the block for his street, he looked up to find Jack sprinting down the block. He grinned as she launched herself into his arms, burying her face in his stomach.

"Hey, Jackie." He greeted, ruffling her hair. She looked up at him and smiled, green eyes softly glowing in the evening light. "Everything alright?" He took her by the hand and they walked down the street together, Jack resting her head on his arm as she entwined both her hands around his one arm and hand.

"Yeah.." she sounded a little distant. She felt his body tense slightly in worry.

"You don't sound too good. Something on your mind?" They were a house away from their own and he stopped and turning to her, released himself from her grasp and looked down at her. Her eyes looked misty almost and her face a little pale.

"I…" she started but stopped, holding her arms in her hands tightly pressed against her stomach. She looked down, almost in shame it seemed to him.

"Hey," he started, kneeling down so he could look up into Jack's eyes. "When has anything gotten to my captain like this?"

"Never." She spoke softly, still trying to avoid his eyes. One large warm hand took hold of one side of her head and lifted it up. His forgiving eyes shone bright and suddenly she felt better. "It's just that…I'm scared."

"Of what?"

"You know that kid, Sam, in school. The one I beat up a while ago?" She continued regardless of the amused smirk on her father's face. "Today in school he was absent for like…the fifth day in a row and all these crazy rumors have been spreading. This morning the principal came and told us that his parents had been killed by some fanatic religious group." His eyes widened in the realization of the connection and he took both of her shoulders in his hands.

"Jackie, girl, that's not gonna happen to us. That's what you're worried about, right?" He asked, hoping she would feel better. He hated it when she felt worried over something like this, something she was angry about because she couldn't control it.

"That's not all, Dad. His dad was a high commander, too. Like you. He was in the same war you were in." She spoke softly, pushing from her father's hands into him, hugging him tightly. "Dad, nothings going to happen to you, right? Right, dad?"

He didn't say anything but picked her up and walked towards the house, his mind running in every opposite direction. His wife stood at the door, looking confused and he mouthed to her that he would tell her later. She went back into the house knowing that if Jack knew she had seen her upset like that she would be angry. He walked up the stairs and into her room, finally setting her down on her bed. As she sat there he knelt down and took both of her hands in his.

"Jacqueline." She looked up immediately. He never used her formal name. "I'm not going to lie to you. You're a very intelligent person and you can handle this situation. I can't swear to you that we're going to be ok. But I can tell you both me and your mom will do everything in our power to keep us safe. That's the hard truth and I promise I'll look into this at work tomorrow."

Sighing in relief, she hugged him again. As he stood up she watched his expression change into that of a protective father and husband whose authority had been challenged. Like one of the knights she had read about in school. He pushed her in the direction of the bathroom to clean up before dinner and she waited until he had left the room to do so.

She opened her eyes to see the dried leaves that were weaved to make the roof. They shuffled and shifted against each other as the wind off the ocean blew through the bungalows. Tilting her head to the side she found Neunzhen making rounds of the deck, looking through the supports of the railings down into the jungle, as if expecting something or someone to be there. She made a soft clicking noise with her tongue and he looked up and seeing she was awake, trotted over to her and forcefully nudged his head beneath one of her hands.

Jack's face was drying from the tears shed over the loss of her father. Finally after all these years she had been able to sit and mourn his death. A small sliver of determination lingered beneath that sadness that wanted her to look for her mother and brother as well, if they were alive. She felt much better and swung her legs around to get out of the hammock. As her feet touched the floor she heard something move in the trees surrounding the bungalow. Her growl matched that of Neunzhen as she slowly advanced towards the edge of the deck. His ears flicked forward as he leapt from the deck onto the railing, that wasn't much bigger than his paws. Jack was surprised to see he could grip and walk at the same time, his neck bent low.

She waited for a few minutes and no other sound was heard. Sighing in annoyance, she walked backwards into the doorway, not trusting to be outside at the moment. Her hellhound soon followed, the edge of his scales still a deep orange. As she stood in the room, her mind broke into two parts.

Shower or food?

Krent, or Tony, had his back against the wall as he sat on his bed, looking out the window that was near it. The bedroom worked out as a small room, the doorway between the two beds and both of them pushed into the corners. Tony had insisted that he get the one closest to the window, mostly out of the inside need to protect Leo, or Meth. He slept in the other bed, his sheets tossed and tangled as his steady breathing matched the heartbeat of Tony.

Two blue eyes watched the older man in the bed on the opposite side of the room. The leg closest to the ceiling, which would be his left leg was pulled up, his knee acting as a place to rest his outstretched arm. His hand held a bone shiv that Jack had given him as protection some time back in Crematoria. His other leg, the right one, stretched out and his right arm lay relaxed alongside it. His blue eyes watched the slow movements of the beach and forest outside, not aware that Leo's eyes were observing him.

Much to Neil's annoyance, his father, or 'Mr. Buckner', decided to stay up and read deep into the night. Their home was configured almost exactly like Tony's and Leo's, so the light that Tipner used kept Litman wide awake. He had whined multiple times about the light but the old man ignored him completely. With his back to the other man, he wondered if he could room with Jack the next night. Probably not, so maybe he could just camp out in one of the storage bungalows.

But soon enough exhaustion won and he was just about to fall asleep when Tipner began to talk. Not in that quiet, to oneself way, but in the lecture, I want the whole damn island to hear me way.

"You know, reading is such a privilege Neil. I don't know why you aren't doing the same. The knowledge and enlightenment in each new book is enough to keep me reading until the day I die. New ideas to explore and think of, different and unique thought patterns and philosophies you've never even considered yourself. It's almost-"

He was cut when suddenly his book was grabbed out of his hands and the rest of the small pile was taken too. Litman stomped over to his bed and put them all beneath his pillow. Walking back to the other man's bed, he roughly yanked out the cord to the light and dragged that over to his side of the room as well, where he put it as close to his bed as possible. Cloaked in blessed darkness, Litman or Neil just waited for the other man to get up and approach him.

Sure enough he heard footsteps slowly and almost completely silently walking across the room. He felt the air change as one of his hands reached out to get to the books and just then did he let out a hair-raising snarl, not unlike the ones Jack or Neunzhen gave when they were pissed off.

"Well if you had wanted to sleep you should've said something." Tipner remarked as he tucked himself back in beneath his sheets. "Goodnight, Neil."

His reply was a low and angry growl.