Hours later, Jack wasn't back, and the shadows were lengthening. Fuck it, Riddick thought. Went to look for her. No idea what might be lurking in the darkness of this place.

She had made it a long way. Fortunately, she hadn't bothered to cover her trail. It ended at a tree. He hung back, searching it with his eyes, unsure of whether to scramble after her or just wait.

She spared him the quandary, called down. "I know you're there, Riddick. You can come up if you want."

He hoisted himself effortlessly into the tree, perched on a nearby branch. "You okay, kid?" He kept his voice soft, unthreatening.

"Yeah. Peachy."

"Gonna stay up here all night?"

"I like trees."

"Hm. Think that branch'll support the two of us?"

"Probably." She moved over, giving him the space closest to the trunk. He pulled himself over carefully, not entirely sure she wasn't going to bolt again.

"Thirsty?" He offered a canteen. She gave him a brief smile, took a drink.

"Thanks."

"Not a problem."

There was a long silence. Finally, he broke it. "Never figured you for the quiet type."

"I cultivated silence."

"Why? You always used to love to talk."

Her lips twitched. "Still do. I've . . . been afraid I'd say something I shouldn't."

"You care about what people think?"

"I cared about getting you caught." She hesitated. Smiled. "Asshole."

His lips twitched too, involuntarily. There was a long silence.

"I've missed that." He said abruptly.

"What? Calling you an asshole?"

"Yeah. You weren't afraid of me for so long . . . And then you were. I've hated that."

"Asshole. It's your fault. You're so fucking scary." She elbowed him, gently.

He laughed, a big, deep belly laugh. Wrapped an arm around her, feeling incredibly tender. "I'm glad you're not dead. I'll leave if you want."

"What?" She sounded, to his surprise, alarmed.

"Let you be the Lord Marshal. Or whatever. Kid, I'm a monster. I've done such things, even to you. Even to the one girl in all the world that . . ." His voice trailed off.

She sounded affronted, but kept her tone light. "You can't leave. You've got millions of former Necromongers to take care of. And someone has to keep Kyra and Vaako from killing each other."

He snorted, again. "You're not happy with me. You used to be happy with me." Silence, again. This time, she broke it.

"Happiness. Yeah. Here's the thing. I love you. But . . . I had a long time to think, after you left me on New Mecca. To think about the fact you were – you are -- a killer. I don't know how much of what they say about you to believe . . . but I saw you do it and you never flinched, never paused, never regretted. I could dress it up all romantic, since I knew everyone you killed in front of me wanted to hurt me, but I knew, deep down, that you are a killer of men . . .

"I felt so guilty for not turning you in. I knew you were a monster. But you were my monster; you saved my life again and again, and that meant something. On the other hand, I knew that was selfish of me; taking advantage of something bad because it was good for me. And if I wasn't thinking about it hard, I thought you were a hero . . .

"Then you show up out of nowhere, yank me into the darkness without so much as a "hi, remember me?" and I find out you're even worse than I thought. And I find out that almost everyone I love is dead. And you're involved in all of it.

"I've been grieving . . . Ripped up inside. But I had no choice, you know? And that's kinda freeing in its own way. I had no moral accountability. All I could do is try not to join in. Even though I was benefiting from it, eating wonderful food from exquisite plates in beautiful rooms while people died. But I was just another one of your innocent victims . . .

"And then I become worse than you. I just killed tens of millions, maybe more, people I didn't know, people I didn't hate. I did it. I made the Necropolis fall. For vengeance. Not even my vengeance. I let myself be a tool."

She stared up into the deepening shadows of the tree.

"In the last few days, I've found out I'm from a race of people who were either warriors or killers, depending on who you talk to; I fulfilled one of my childhood fantasies; I've essentially died and come back multiple times, I've resurrected the dead; I've been raped and tortured; I've killed millions; I participated in the creation of a new world, I think I made Shirah. And I just found out that just about everything in the last ten years of my life has been a trick played by the woman I thought was my sister, but isn't. And now I don't know what to do. I don't even know what I am."

She took a deep, shuddering breath. He gave into the urge and pulled her close. She relaxed into him. After a moment, she kept going. "But I know this. You're all I've got. So don't you dare fucking leave me again. Or I'll . . . I'll marry Vaako, that's what I'll do, I'll declare myself queen and name parks and children's scholarships in your honor."

He should laugh. He really should. She was trying to take the conversation back into the shallow waters. But instead, he kept his voice serious. "For what it's worth . . . everyone who survived except for maybe me and Vaako lived because you saved them."

"Yeah. And now I'm supposed to pay for that mercy."

"Come with me."

"What?"

"We'll steal a ship. Disappear."

She said nothing, but she pressed into him. What do you mean by that, kid? The shadows lengthened towards full darkness.

She changed the subject. "Did you put a tracking device in that necklace you gave me?"

How did you figure that out? "Yeah."

"Good. I gave it to Ziza."

He laughed. "Do you want to go find her? We can. We can go tonight. Or . . . your kid. We could go find her . . . "

She flushed. "I never even thought of that . . . guess I should ask Kyra." She paused.

"I . . I don't know whether I want to find them. Depends . . . depends on what we find on the other side, I guess."

Silence. Finally. "The other side?"

"Of the hole. The Threshold. I think I'm going to do it. See if there's any good I can do. I think I need to do some good. Make up for all the bad things you've done. Asshole."

He snorted.

"Like you're ever gonna to seek redemption. Maybe I can do it for you. Maybe I can bring more people back, like I did Kyra . . . maybe Abu is there. Lots of people in that place who died too early, who might want a second chance."

He snorted again, tightened his grip. Whispered into her ear, "You're right. I don't give a flying fuck about redemption. Maybe I'll just bundle you up, take you away."

She stiffened, tried to pull away. "So you were just funnin' when you said you didn't like me being afraid of you? 'cause kidnapping is scary, Riddick."

That silenced him for a long time.

"If you go through that thing, you're not going alone."

She relaxed, laughed softly. "I can live with that."

"And you're not marrying Vaako."

"He'd make an honest woman of me. You won't. So it depends on how nice you are to me. Asshole."

He laughed, and nuzzled her neck. "I'll be nice. Very nice. Ready to go back? I made sure we got a good room. . ."

She melted against him, almost reluctantly. "What the hell, yes."

Good enough. He gathered her up in his arms, and leapt, lightly, out of the tree into the dark forest below.