Eventually the twin suns rose in exquisite harmony, beautiful, if it weren't for the wrongness in the air.
A sense he had quickly pinpointed as a lack of any noises, this was not great surprise as he had seen no animals yet. This was a dying planet, no ecosystem could survive without animals, and yet this one did still, meaning the ruins and debris were not very old, which in turn meant that danger might still lurk. He was eager to press on quickly, forgetting due to her silence, the girl.
After a time he looked back, to see if she wanted a break, in the distance he could just make out a small figure, distorted by the heat waves from the now baked earth. Cursing himself he strode back to where she was trudging. "Damn kid, why didn't you tell me you were tired?" he said when he reached her, "didn't want to make a fuss" she replied. Her tone made him look closer, there was a fine sheen of sweat on an unhealthily pale face, and under her eyes were dusted with indigo, a testament to the night spent on the unforgiving ground. Looking lower he suddenly noticed her feet, they were blood-shod. A small tired smile was on her face.
"sorry, I should have stopped you a bit earlier" she said softly
"give me you pack, we're finding someplace to rest"
"can't see much except rubble and desert here?" she questioned.
"follow me"
He strode off purposefully leaving her to scramble in his wake.
Rather uncharitable thoughts began to cross her mind but she quelled them, he had told her that he was in charge that he was her guardian. She believed him completely, she knew nothing else than to obey.In any case there was something about him, his sheer strength and competence gave her a feeling of safety.
She wished she could remember his name though.
The animal stirred. The sight of the small bloody feet had his blood boiling in rage, a rage directed against himself, "what the fuck are you doing?" he thought in disgust, "Just gotta try harder, be better, she ain't got nobody but you." His inner voice said. Darker thought concerning his suitability as a guardian for a young girl lurked in the dark recesses of his mind keeping company with his animal.
After about 5 minutes he decided that the lesson has sunk in, he walked back to her, and ignoring a squeak of protest lifted her up so she was resting in the cradle of his arms.
It was a very welcome relief from the searing ground, but an uncomfortable experience none the less. To be in such close physical proximity with someone as intimidating as her guardian was enough to put anyone on edge, and not just his overwhelming physical presence, but a curious, almost feral emotion was emanating from him. Her questioning gaze was met by the reflection of his goggles, so she settled as much as she could and retreated into her mind.
Flashback (girl) :
A cacophony of noise, light and pain was all she remembered of the crash, no distinct memories.
When she regained consciousness, she found herself wrapped in a jacket in a make-shift shelter, the crash was a smoking ruin, glowing through the dusk to her right and there was a complete absence of people, a fact that, had she remembered that there were any people in the first place, she would have found chilling.
Something made her turn to the other side and there was a man sitting watching her, a complete stranger, yet one that, had she retained any memory of her former life she would have run screaming from. As it was she smiled a little smile and looked with interest down at the blanket, wondering why she hurt so much.
"how you feeling" words spoken at a pitch low enough that one could feel vibrations.
"not very well" she replied.
"what's your name?" he said
Blank, her mind worked on overdrive, searching for a name. Blank eyes turned to him, Blank expression not quite covering the rising hysteria. Riddick was confused for a minute by her silence, but then the acrid tang of fear tickled his senses, comprehension dawned. Fighting down irritation at this situation he attempted to calm her.
"no worries, relax, you were hurt but not too badly. We'll try and find help in the morning" he soothed.
Somewhat unnerved by his monosyllabic answers she nodded assent and nodded off to sleep.
As Riddick searched for someplace to rest out of the elements, his mind wandered to the crash.
Flashback (Riddick)
"Fucking incompetent retards" he fumed as he pulled himself inch by painful inch from the twisted metal of the luxury liner.
He had been travelling incognito, something that he needed after the fawning, backstabbing imbeciles on the death dealing tomb that passed for a ship. Being Lord of the Underverse was a royal pain in the arse, having to rule a civilisation he so fundamentally disagreed with sat uneasy on him. And now these fuckers had ruined his holiday by crashing the bloody ship, he KNEW he should have driven himself.
His attention was caught by a low moan from underneath the wreckage. A child he realised, and went to investigate. Half an hour and several nasty scratches later he found himself setting up a bivouac to protect a semi conscious girl.
Later, when the dusk was performing its customary intransitive operation of 'gathering' he heard stirring and looked around at the girl.
"Small" was his first thought, "very cute, probably had her daddy wrapped around her little finger."
Big melting eyes regarded the wreckage solemnly before turning to him. In the soft shadows of nightfall, her face glowed from the surrounding smog, a soft swathe of grey gave her face a sophistication and melancholy far older than her young years should allow.
He questioned her. Bemused by her lack of fear he asked her name.
Then the fear came, rolling off her in scent waves, the reason for her earlier lack of fear was suddenly very clear, she had lost her memory. He roughly told her to get some rest, quietly worrying about what to do. At midnight he decided.
He would pretend to be her guardian as this would ensure her cooperation should she turn out to be a spoilt brat. He would find some sort of aircraft, take them back to civilisation, foist her onto whatever family she had left after the crash and continue on his merry way.
Easier said than done he thought as he trudged on, this place was devastated, nothing lived here.
Then he caught the sweet, fresh smell of water, striding with new purpose he came across an old building, very grand and ornate, and mostly in ruins, but a small gap in the rubble showed a tunnel at the bottom of which he knew would be water. Telling her to wait outside he ducked in to explore.
The sight that greeted his eyes when he emerged from the passage was so incongruous that he was frozen for a split second.
