During the journey Jack tried to force her thoughts to avoid resting on her memories of him. So of course he was all she thought of the entire time...

His face would no longer appear in her mind on demand, time had caused his features to fade, and the brief flashes she did still have were always of Riddick scowling at her with disapproval. She could barely remember his smile, the one she'd loved so dearly, if secretly.

The trip took only three days, because believe it or not Riddick (Rick now) hadn't strayed far from New Mecca. No wonder, there were few mercs lurking so far from the big slams, and it wasn't like he'd been a big fan of cryo sleep anyway. At least not while she'd known him.

Jack avoided contact with the other passengers. She stayed locked in her bunk the majority of the time, emerging only to eat and use the showers once or twice a day. She did her regular dance-gymnastic workout routines to pass the time, even though she was limited on space to the extreme.

It wasn't like she wanted to talk to anyone, there was too much to think about going to a new home.

Home, home was back on New Mecca. She missed Imam already, expecting to hear him in the kitchen every morning, up long before her and preparing their breakfast.

A few people, other teenaged girls mostly, did attempt to speak with her during meals. She again reverted to the crash survival course she'd received from the man who knew so much about it, giving them all safe, single syllable responses. Soon she found she was being left well enough alone. That was familiar enough. The skill of turning invisible had been one of her greatest assets as a runaway. The only problem was she never knew when it was safe to turn it off. And honestly, she didn't know how.

Jack told herself time and again that she wouldn't be nervous when she saw him. Hell, she should be too pissed at him to be nervous, yet the butterflies were kicking up the moment she woke from a fitful night of sleep the morning her ship was due to reach its destination, and by the time she stepped off the ship's ramp they were almost nauseating. She hadn't even been able to eat that morning.

Strange questions were flying through her mind as she mildly searched the crowd of people, wondering if he was even going to show.

Would his eyes still be the same? Would he have stopped shaving his head? Would Shella be with him?

She cursed under her breath just thinking about that possibility. Shella was one bitch Jack was pretty sure she could honestly admit she hated. And that was saying something. For the past four years causing Imam shame, having him think he'd failed to teach her to steer herself away from such ugly feelings would've been more than enough to dissuade her from even thinking such a thing.

But Jack was still willing to make an exception here and there. And Shella definitely qualified as an exception.

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Two hours.

She'd been sitting alone with only her backpack for company on the street curb outside the port for two hours. And not one whisper of a sign of that bastard Riddick.

It was already long after nightfall on the planet, even though it was morning back where she'd come from. Jack finally rose from her spot, slowly walking towards the port's small hotel, intending to lodge a room and then go back to New Mecca the following day on her transport's return trip.

This had obviously been a HUGE waste of her time. Jack began to grumble to herself, as she often did when she was angry. "If I knew where the fuck that damn idiot was I'd tip off the nearest merc and collect part of the bounty on his worthless criminal ass! Would serve that son of a bitch right..."

It was times like that when she thought of Johns, of how he'd been so right about Riddick but at the time she hadn't believed a word that had come out of his mouth. Big Evil sure did deserve his spot in the fucking Asshole Hall of Fame, and she hoped he fucking enjoyed it too.

Still working her way across the black ocean of the enormous empty parking lot Jack resumed her angry ramblings. "One of these days Riddick, your body's gonna figure out you don't have a heart, and then you're gonna drop dead just like that!" Jack snapped her fingers in demonstration.

"And I really just hope to Allah I'm there to...Holy shit!" she yelped, her eyes flying wide open as out of nowhere a heavy hand fell on her shoulder.