AN: Stuff in italics are memories, just so you know. Also, in this COR never happened. It would mess with my story line. So it doesn't exist here. Thank you, and read on!
She was just sitting there, her eyes glazed over with images of some time long gone that was not supposed to come back. That quack doctor gave her the green pill; that much was obvious. That's why her brain shut down when she saw him. He specifically told that shit head not to give her anything until he got back. And that little shit gave her the green pill, the fucking green pill. That rat bastard knew what would happen if she took it. All those times they went through, every "stressful" time in her life would be erased from her mind; temporarily, as the fucking prescription said. But as long as she was taking the green pill, she wouldn't remember. She wasn't supposed to remember. But hell if she wasn't fighting for it right now. She always was a fighter.
He'd seen it a million and a half times. Down in the slams where protein waffles are a luxury item and they use the dying cons like guinea pigs, like lab rats. The green pill is served three times a day, special for the sellouts that loose their balls somewhere along the way to their dark hole in the wall. The dosage is always too high, the pill is always unrefined; too much of this, too little of this. And the doctors never stop dishing them out like candy. And the cons always forget everything; who they are, what they did, why they are stuck in those dank cells seventeen hours a day.
And now she was going through it. She was sitting up straight for once, her back like a rail, muscles tense and clenched under her tanned skin. Her lips were pressed shut, drawing the full lips he remembered so well into a thin white line. Her eyes stared straight ahead, the vivid green dull and glossy with memories that the pill was trying to repress and kill. She was just sitting there, watching a life she almost left behind flash in front of her like an old black-and-white movie.
He knelt in front of her, his hands twitching, trying his damned hardest not to reach out and touch her, to reassure her. He knew that wouldn't work, it'd make her worse. He knew she would slip farther away; just the sight of him made her like this. She'd have to fight it. And for once, he couldn't help her ward off the demons inside of her.
It tore him up inside to know he couldn't do a damn thing to help her. His inner beast roared and paced in its cage, clawing at the titanium bars that held it locked up tight. His mercury eyes shifted and swirled under the black goggle lenses, always staring straight into her lifeless eyes. If he actually gave a rat's ass about the God Imam always prattled on and on about, he would have been praying right then; almost begging that fucker to bring her back in one piece. Make her the same as she had been before he left.
"Why can't I go?" Jack asked for the three hundred and sixth time from her vantage point on the mattress, holding his thin pillow to her chest loosely. She watched as Riddick packed up a small duffle bag, tossing an extra shirt and pair of pants over his shoulder. Miraculously, they landed in the small opening and lay flat in the bottom of the bag.
Riddick didn't bother to look away from his task as he answered. "You're not in top form. The mercs would pick you up in a second if I took you with me. You're staying here until you get better." He said in a no-nonsense tone.
She let a little huff of air out from between her lips, blowing a stray curl out of her face. "I'm fine. It's just a stupid cold."
"Doctor said it'll get worse if you move around like we need to on these kinds of runs." Riddick told her, almost annoyed by her attempts to get out of bed rest.
"A five-year old could treat me better than this quack." She complained, hugging the thin pillow closer.
His hands slid towards the sheaths at his belt, quietly and quickly slipping his shivs into place at his side. "He's the best one on the planet, so you're staying here until I get back." He looked over his shoulder, lifting an eyebrow. "You scared?"
Jack sat up straight, glaring at him. "Of what? Staying by myself? I'm not a kid anymore, Riddick."
"No shit; could have fooled me the way you're whining." He replied, smirking slightly as she gracefully flipped him the bird. He straightened and walked over to the bed, zipping the small opening closed in one fluid movement. Riddick lifted the duffle bag with one finger and flung it over his shoulder carelessly. He bent and placed his hand on Jack's shoulder; the most affection he'd shown anyone as far back as he could remember. She sighed and nudged him away, pouting. "I'll be back. Just wait here." His smirk widened when he saw her nod and ruffled her curly hair before turning towards the door before he got a pillow thrown in his face.
If he hadn't have left her with that fucking doctor, she would still be the Jack he knew and cherished. The only girl that ever got more than one annoyed comment or grunt out of the convict, the only girl that he could tolerate for more than a few hours. And now she was slipping farther and farther away from him.
"Name's Richard B. Transfer me to Dr. Pretindar." Riddick said into the phone speaker. The apartment was abandoned when he came back from his little escapade to throw the mercs off for a little longer. Just long enough to get Jack back on her feet, and then they could leave this planet and take off for somewhere better. He tapped his thick fingers on the counter impatiently, his eyes darting around the kitchen. It was clean, too clean; almost like Jack had never been there. She left a mess everywhere she went, like a trail of destruction. It was almost endearing to the convict. Though it was easier to get to the bathroom without tripping and tiptoeing around the messy path Jack left behind her on the ship.
The phone crackled slightly, and Riddick returned his wandering attention to the matter at hand. A nurse's voice seeped into his ear. "I'm sorry, the doctor is currently with a patient. Can I help you?"
Riddick fought the need to clear his throat. Trying to keep the gravelly tone out of his voice killed his throat, but it was another way to keep the mercs off. "I was just wondering if Kyra was in his office." He grimaced at the name. Jack insisted on using it to throw mercs off their trail. Kyra sounded like some center stage girl at an exotica club to Riddick, Jack was a good simple name.
"As a matter of fact, that's who he's with right now." The nurse replied cheerily. "She's getting her prescription refilled."
Riddick paused. "Pretend I haven't been here for the past month and explain that to me again. In fact," he said after a pause, " don't pretend."
"She's been put on hydroxipenecillin." The nurse answered cheerily.
The phone was almost crushed beneath his hand. "She's on what?" He asked, the roughness returning to his voice.
"Dr. Pretindar put her on 500 Mg of hydroxipenecillin." She explained again, slower.
Riddick tried to breath, but he felt himself getting angrier and angrier with every second that passed. "The green pill?" He asked himself out loud, forgetting the nurse for a moment.
"That's the street name for it, yes." The other voice brought him back to reality. "She's been taking it for quite a while. I would tell you more, but he has her chart with him in his office." There was a long pause in the conversation. Mostly the nurse was waiting for a response and Riddick was trying to keep himself from breaking everything in the room. "Sir, is there a problem?" She asked, the cheer in her voice diminishing, blending into the background of the hospital murmurs.
Riddick took a deep breath, trying to calm the animal that was growling in his chest. "Not for long."
Without further adieu, he hung up the phone and decided to pay the kind doctor a quick visit.
It was the doctor's fault that she was like this. He was the reason she was stuck in that place, floating somewhere between the present and the past. The fucking green pill, and the fucking doctor that gave it to her in the first place.
"I told you not to give her anything." He growled threateningly, walking closer to the cowering doctor.
The doctor's teeth chattered and clenched together, his pulse picking up speed with each step Riddick took. "Stay back. Take one more step, and I'll call security."
Riddick laughed mirthlessly. "Call them, I dare you." Beneath his dark goggles, those shining eyes swirled and danced dangerously. "I'll ghost them all, every last one of those bastards. And then, I'll get you. And I'll cut you open so slow, so painful that you'll beg for me to run my shiv through you before the first minute is up."
"I'm sorry, ok? I didn't know what would happen." He whimpered miserably.
"Bull shit." Riddick roared. "You knew exactly what it would do."
"She was just a sick girl who was all alone. She was scared." The doctor continued, pitifully soft and weak.
"She's not scared of anything." Riddick grunted. "I made sure of that."
The doctor shook his head furiously, searching for a way to escape his impending doom. "She hides it." He looked up imploringly at the convict. "I only did what I could to help her."
Riddick snarled and fingered the handle of his shiv gently. "You knew it wouldn't help. All you doctors read those reports. You know what that pill does to people. You weren't trying to help her, you used her as your fucking lab rat."
The doctor shook his head, sweat soaking through his white jacket. "No, no I swear."
Riddick took another step forward, bringing his shiv out into the light, the blade gleaming with bloody, deadly power.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'll take her off it. I'll get her the antidote."
Riddick paused, his shiv still glimmering and winking perilously at the doctor. "Antidote?"
The doctor nodded frantically, a wave of relief flooding his senses. "An injection called hypocamamilia. It's in the cabinet. I can administer the serum to her and-"
A shiv embedded itself in his throat. "Congrats, doc. You just earned yourself a quick death."
The body slumped in the corner of the room where once a doctor cowered. Riddick strolled over to the filing cabinet and began to rummage through section after section for the elusive injection.
He found it in a matter of seconds. And fthen he ollowed Jack home, nice and quiet. Didn't want to spook her, not after he knew she was on the green pill. He climbed silently through the window, once he was sure she was asleep. Carefully, he picked his way around the path of destruction that was trademark Jack and finally made it to the bedroom. Creeping over to her bed, he carefully secured an arm and expertly found an artery, drawing his needle and injecting the serum with graceful ease that seemed out of place with his bulk. The shooting pain woke her up with a startled gasp. Her eyes turned towards him, and she jumped up, her mouth opened up for a nice, loud scream.
And then she froze like one of those raptors from the hell planet in the noon sun of Cremetoria. "I know you . . ."
Her voice was soft, scared, shaky. The animal purred at that news. She remembered something. That was a good sign. But the human side of Riddick knew that was a lie. That meant her brain was going to start fighting the pill. And it would be a long hard night for her. Her eyes started to glaze over and she slumped back into a shitty little chair that someone had stuck in the corner of the room. God knows why, it was supposedly a great design ploy to make a customer feel "more comfortable", but the poor condition the chair was in negated any of that comfort. He was at her side before he knew what was going on. Apparently, it was going to be a long hard night for him too.
Which brought him back to the present. "Come on Jack. Fight this fucking pill. You're stronger than this." He said, soft and gravelly, letting his real voice seep back into his speech.
She whimpered, her eyebrows drawing down around her eyes, forehead creased, her spicy scent mixed with the twang of fear. "No more darkness." She muttered from between her thin-stretched lips. "No more monsters. All alone, all alone." She kept repeating to herself, shaking ever so slightly despite the humid air that plagued this planet system.
Riddick sucked on his bottom lip, trying to remember. Darkness, monsters; her past before Hunter, their past during Hunter, their past after Hunter. The never-ending black that swallowed her when she snuck away from her parents, when she lived on that shitty backwater planet, when she made her way onto the Hunter. Then she found him, and hung on like a limpet. Even dressed up like him. She was annoying at first, but it grew on him. Especially when she made those little broken goggles and wore them through the whole fucking fight off that planet. Sure he had left her once or twice, but never alone. He always left her with someone. Shazza, Imam.
Carolyn Fry.
Fry was the one who made him take Jack off that planet, dragging a shocked Imam along for the wild ride. One girl he could have saved if he had just stayed alert, who could have saved him from the beast that chewed him up from the inside back then. But he let her die. She was probably still being digested in the damn thing's stomach. If it was still alive, that is. It was over a decade ago. God knows how long they live; and being the motherfucker he is, God probably made them live for centuries on end, just to be sadistic to anyone who would even consider landing on the worthless pile of rock, sand, and bone.
And spending the next few months on that ship with Jack made him regret not being with her in that darkness she had been trapped in before that nightmare of a planet, when she was still with those shit-for-brains parents. She screamed in her sleep, kicking and clawing at anything that got within distance of her gangly limbs. But when she lay with her back to the wall, curled up in his side, the nightmares disappeared. So she stuck to him like glue. Surprisingly, he didn't mind. He actually enjoyed it, once he got used to her being around and stopped tripping over her at every turn. For once, someone didn't run screaming at the sight of him. Someone actually looked up to him, as ironic as it was. It almost calmed him, knowing that she wasn't afraid of him, knowing that he was what kept the nightmares at bay during the long, cold nights.
Despite Imam's grumbles and arguments, she started training with him. Only a few hours every day, but enough to get her fit, strong, able to defend herself against whatever she thought was coming after her. She never told him what she was so afraid of, probably because he trained her not to be afraid. Anything and everything that even got a startled gasp out of her, he made sure to train the fear, to harness it, make her stronger. He trained her physically and emotionally to be strong.
But not too strong, he still needed her to depend on him for some things. Then came the blackness of space. Constant travel, sneaking around at night to pick up supplies that could make the pair look suspicious while loading it up; even the occasional late night merc chases that rarely ended well - for the merc. It was always black. That was Riddick's specialty after all: darkness.
"You're not alone, Jack. I'm right here." Riddick told her softly, watching her through dark lenses.
"Alone. Everyone's gone. Everyone left. I'm alone. They abandoned me." She muttered, looking right through him with scared eyes.
"You're not alone Jack. I'm right here." His hand reached out to touch her, but he stopped himself just a few inches away from her face. "I'll always come back, you know that."
She shivered and hugged herself. "It's dark."
Riddick leaned closer to her, whispering in her ear. "Find your way out. You can't let this beat you. I trained you better than that, Jack."
She shook her head. "Too dark. I can't see. The light's going out. It's cold and I can't get to him." She shook harder, a tear starting to well in her eye. "He's too far ahead. He's leaving us."
Oh shit. She was right in the middle of reliving a memory, a bad one at that. Something far back, something that wanted to be found again. Talk about the past coming back to bite you square in the ass. "Tell me where you are, Jack." He whispered, his warm breath leaving goose bumps all down her skin.
She whimpered, her body convulsing and shaking, her arms hugging her torso tightly. Her eyes squeezed shut, her breath coming in short gasps. "Screams. Something's chasing us. It's shrieking. It's hungry."
Riddick's eyebrows knotted together. That could have described hundreds of mercs hungry for money, maybe the raptors hungry for flesh, or maybe farther back than that. He never asked too many questions, but enough to know the outline of her life before she stowed away on the Hunter. "Give me more Jack. Dig deeper. Find something."
She paused, her eyes closed tight, thinking and looking through the memory. "Bones. I know they're here, but I can't find them. We saw them earlier, before the light started flickering." Her breath caught. "She's screaming behind me. Something happened. Someone else is dying, probably already dragged off and eaten by those things. He's so far ahead. He's not turning around. I called his name, and he didn't look back." She whimpered again, holding herself tighter. "There's that scream again. It's so loud." She squeaked, hugging herself even tighter, her knuckles turning white as her fingers twisted the thin fabric of her clothes. "It's trying to get me. I need to hide, need to find a way to keep it off me. I don't want to die. Not here. Not now." She started hyperventilating. "The bone. It's right there. I can get under, and she'll hold it off. Why won't he come back? Why is he walking away?" The sobs got louder as her body started rocking back and forth, trying to soothe itself as it relived every second of that nightmare. "It's on top of me. It's trying to get through to me. The bone's cracking. I can see its head coming through. She's screaming. I'm screaming. He's not here. I'm gonna die. He's too far ahead. He's not coming back."
Riddick chewed on the inside of his lip. He remembered that night all too well. If he hadn't have told himself that what he did was right, that memory would haunt him too. He almost hadn't turn around to save that girl who was screaming his name. Something drew him back in the end. Maybe it was Carolyn's voice, it seemed to have that kind of effect on him back then. Then again, it could have been that he was already getting attached to the kid. Either way, he couldn't force himself to leave without her.
"I didn't leave, Jack. I came back." He told her softly, watching helplessly as she tried to push out of the nightmare that had surrounded her. "You lived through that night. You fought your way through the darkness."
She whimpered, but it was softer. Her body had stopped rocking. Her knuckles were pale, but not the stark hospital white they had been a few seconds ago. "He came back." She whispered, her lips falling out of their thin line. A small, cautious smile pulled at the very far edges of her mouth.
Riddick nodded. "That's right, Jack. I came back. I'll always come back for you." He reassured her softly. Her hands slowly released the fabric caught between her fingers, letting it fall away stiffly. Her eyebrows unknotted from over her eyes, those plump lips refilling as the tension slowly faded away. She took a deep, shuddering breath and opened her eyes.
They sparkled with the same life Riddick had missed for weeks.
"Riddick?" She whispered, her voice cracking with tears that she had stubbornly refused to shed even through that hellish nightmare.
The convict let out a sigh he didn't realize he was holding and scooped her into his bulky arms. "Fuck, Jack. Don't you ever pull that shit with me again." He told her sternly, burying his face in her curly brown mop of hair.
He could feel her heart beat through the thin layer of clothes between them, heard her trying to catch her breath as she pulled herself out of the dark world her mind had just been dragged through. "I told you leaving me here was a bad idea." She chuckled breathlessly, wrapping her arms around him.
He smirked, shaking his head. "Damn it. I can't leave you alone for five fucking minutes without something going wrong, can I?"
"Guess you're stuck with me." She rested her cheek on his shoulder, her breath tickling his bare neck. "Please tell me you ghosted that asshole doctor."
He chuckled gruffly. "You bet your ass I did." He slowly released her from his grip, sitting back on his heels. "Get packing. We're leaving."
She blinked. "When?"
"Two hours."
"Shit." She jumped out of her chair and jumped over the beds to her closet, pulling out all the clothes she had been storing within the little wardrobe. She glared over her shoulder when she heard Riddick's quiet chuckle. He quickly excused himself from the room and sat in the entryway, listening to Jack's not-so-quiet curses from the other room.
"Good to have you back, kid."
AN: Hopefully, you liked it. It's been sitting on my hard-drive for ages, asking to be posted. I've been so nervous about getting Riddick's character right that I didn't want to risk the chance of flames. But you know, every bird must fly the nest some day. It's your turn, little ficlet. Be free! And yes, I realize that the medicine does not exist, and even if it did it would do nothing with the combination of chemicals being relatively harmless, but I liked the sound of it all smushed together. Also, I do realize the doctor's name is Pretender with a few added and deleted letters. Thank you for not pointing it out in your review. And now, away!