A/N: new chappie! enjoy!

Chapter 5: Promises

Vaako adjusted in the pilot seat of the Necromonger frigate that would soon be filled with converts that were all going to the same place he was, Lenore by his side to co-pilot.

"You know I don't know how to pilot this thing, right?" she hoped, watching him make adjustments. "You picked an ignoramus for a co-pilot."

"All you have to do is watch that screen and flip any switches if and when I tell you to," Vaako replied, not looking away from the panel in front of him.

"Which switches?" she wondered, still watching him.

"I'll tell you when we need to use them," he answered, glancing out the window in front of them every once in a while.

Lenore nodded and they were silent as she continued watching him before asking the inevitable: "What will happen to Dame Vaako?"

Vaako froze and sighed in exhaustion, sitting back in his seat as he stared at the panel for a moment before replying, "Riddick assured me she would be taken care of."

"Did she remember where she came from?" she asked, cautiously and Vaako shook his head, still not looking at her.

"The Quasideads didn't even find anything in her memories," he elaborated in thought. "It's as if she blocked everything out about her past. No one can figure it out, and Riddick doesn't care, really. 'As long as she's out of here,' he said."

"Did she tell you where she's going?" Lenore wondered.

"I haven't spoken to her since yesterday," Vaako replied, finally looking to her. "I don't know where she's going and I don't care."

She nodded and smiled at him, reassuringly, making him smile very subtly in return. He lifted the arm closest to her and slipped his hand down the side of her face, feeling at her hair before stroking her cheek with his thumb for a moment, their eyes locking as he did. Lenore smiled a little wider and snuggled her cheek into his hand, closing her eyes in contentment.

"I'm glad you're not wearing that Harem Girl dress anymore," he murmured and Lenore opened her eyes to see him still slightly smiling.

"And I'm glad you're finally out of your armor," she smiled back. "You should cut your hair differently, too."

Vaako scowled before pulling his hand from her cheek and turning to adjust the coordinates on the panel.

Lenore couldn't resist admiring how unofficial and less threatening he looked in his loose, brown, long-sleeved shirt, dark blue vest, beige trousers and tall black combat boots. He looked…normal. As if he was just another man and not a former Necromonger commander. Now that everyone was underway to wherever they were heading, titles and ranks had been stripped.

She glanced down at her own outfit of light beige, loose, long-sleeved shirt, dark blue trousers and tall brown field boots and recalled her feelings while she had changed out of the dress she'd worn before. She had felt as if she was stripping off her old life and putting on a new one. Wasn't that how it was supposed to feel? Even if it wasn't, she liked this new life she'd slipped into as she still watched Vaako fiddling with the panel in front of him. She liked it because she was starting the new life with him.

"Alright," Vaako sighed, sitting back in his seat before looking back at her to ask, "Are you ready?"

Lenore smiled, coming out of her trance and nodding before lifting her hands to pull her up into a bun. Vaako watched her for a moment before standing from the pilot's seat and heading to the gangplank to let the ramp down and call everyone heading out with them inside the frigate. She heard footsteps shuffling into the ship but no words were spoken except when they were all trying to find their seats. She looked back to Vaako as he sat next to her again and flipped a few switches on the panel.

"Quiet bunch, aren't they?" she joked and he glanced at her with a small scoff.

"Nerves," he replied and she nodded as she watched him.

"Well, they can't stay quiet the whole way to the Messer System, can they?" she smirked and he turned to her with a slight smirk.

"Care to make a wager on that?" he wondered and Lenore's smirk widened at the look in his eye. Her Damon was returning, she could see it.

"Sure," she murmured. "But it can't be money. We need that for food when we get to Palic."

"I wasn't going to suggest using money," he retorted, making her frown only for a moment and before she could ask, he answered, "I'll bet one kiss that someone will break the silence halfway to Palic."

Lenore stared at him with wide eyes for a moment, a slight blush over her cheeks as she swallowed then replied, "I-I'll bet a…kiss they won't last that long."

Vaako's smirk flicked wider for a split second before he leaned toward her and sealed the bet with a kiss to her cheek, whispering, "It's a bet."

"You're not gone yet?"

They jumped in surprise and Vaako pulled away from Lenore as if burned at the sound of Riddick's voice and boot steps up the gang plank. Vaako stood, followed by Lenore as they approached their former Lord Marshal and they met midway into the ship, everyone still finding a place to sit.

"Was there something you needed before I left, Riddick?" Vaako asked, still not being able to let go of the Necro Commander in him.

Riddick stared at him for a moment before thrusting out his hand and Vaako frowned at the gesture before hesitantly taking it to give it a firm shake as Riddick said, "Just here to wish you luck."

"Thank you," Vaako replied, hesitantly as he let go of his hand and Riddick nodded to him and Lenore before turning and heading out, but Vaako couldn't help but hurry after to him to ask, "What of my wife?"

"Consider yourselves divorced," Riddick called back, still walking and not looking back at him. "Now get outta here."

Vaako smirked before turning to head back inside and toward Lenore as she frowned at him. He only shook his head and took her hand as he passed her to sit.

"Let's go," he suggested, strapping on the harness, as did Lenore with hers.

"Gladly," she sighed, relaxing into her seat and turning her head to look at him as he prepared for take off.

Back on Necropolis...

Riddick stepped into his room on the ship to the sounds of muffled struggling before shutting the door behind him, making the noises instantly stop. The room was dark, they only thing able to be seen being his shining, silver eyes as he approached the bed. Dame Vaako was sitting on the edge of the mattress, her hands bound together by a rope tied to the bed post, a gag over her mouth. Her long, dark hair was a mess and loose around her shoulders and down her back…and she was wearing a Harem Girl dress.

In the dark, Riddick could see the perfect terror in her dark eyes, the coal around them smeared over her face from an excess amount of tears pouring down her face. He watched her try to shuffle away, closer to the bed post until she was pressed against it as he approached. He scoffed at her expression as he stopped right next to her, both staring at each other.

"So," Riddick said, leaning toward her and slipping a finger under the gag on one side of her mouth to pull it down as he asked, "Has the new little Harem Girl learned her lesson about being a manipulative bitch?"

Dame Vaako jerked her head to be free of the gag and glared defiantly at the shining eyes, the only thing of him she could see before she spat, "No matter what you do to me, I'll get out of this and find my husband and his whore!"

Riddick said nothing as Dame Vaako felt an instant sting on her cheek, causing her to fall back on the bed and she tried back-peddling away from him but he reached out and grabbed her ankle to pull her back and keep her at the edge of the bed.

"Let me go! You touch me again and I'll scream!"

"Still a feisty bitch, aren't you?" Riddick smirked, gripping her wrists in one hand and holding her hands above her head, his other hand pinning her down by a hip. "I'll have to take a different approach with you then. Humiliation doesn't seem to be enough to get through to you."

"It tells me that you are a sick son of a bitch!" Dame Vaako snarled, making Riddick's smirk widen slightly.

"And you're not?" he murmured, inching closer to her face. "Manipulating your man like you did…why didn't you just kill the Lord, whatever you call it yourself?" He inched even closer until she felt his breath fan over her face. "You do you like other people doing your dirty work for you? Does that turn you on or something?"

"Get off me, dammit!" she snapped, trying to free herself from his grip. "Son of a bitch! Get off me!"

"You know what turns me on?" Riddick taunted, his lips right next to her ear as he growled, "A woman who struggles."

That made Dame Vaako freeze. He hadn't done anything to her yet, but she didn't want to find out what he would do to her if he decided to screw with her head. So far, all he'd done was tie up her hands and walk her around the ship in that damn dress once before bringing her here and tying her to the bed post. Humiliating, but at least he hadn't raped her, which she was afraid he would do.

"That's better," Riddick murmured into her ear. "Now tell me where you're from."

"I told you, I don't know," she ground out, furious but terrified at the same time.

"I don't believe you," he replied, standing and pulling her with him by her bound wrists, and she slammed against his chest, his shining silver gaze meeting hers in the dark. "You somehow kept it from the Quasideads too. If you don't tell me soon I'll beat it out of you. And you know I will."

Dame Vaako swallowed as she stared into his burning gaze and she gritted her teeth before replying, "Celus Four."

"Bullshit," Riddick snarled, shoving her back onto the bed as he remained standing and she instantly found his silver gaze again.

"It's true!" she snapped. "Would I lie when I'm in this position?"

"Hell yes!" Riddick shot back. "You'd try to lie your way out of anything!"

"Well not this time!" Dame Vaako retorted. "I'm not lying."

Riddick stared at her for a moment before turning and marching out the door, making her frown as her heart raced in panic and she stood.

"Are you going to release me?"

"No!" Riddick boomed before slamming the door shut behind him and marching down the hall.

Lenore and Vaako were both from Celus Four.

That Evening on Palic in the Messer System...

"Pay up," Vaako smirked as he leaned an arm over Lenore's head in the cockpit of the frigate, converts shuffling out behind them.

"I told you," Lenore began with a smirk, leaning back on the wall, her arms crossed over her chest, her gaze lifted to his defiantly. "It doesn't count."

"I say it does," Vaako retorted, leaning toward her face.

"I can't go by your word, Damon," Lenore shot back. "You started the conversation."

"You never said I couldn't start a conversation with someone."

"You cheated!"

"No, I didn't."

"Yes, you did."

"Fine, I did. Will you still kiss me?"

Lenore turned her nose up at him, looking away as he only kept his position in front of her, staring at her expectantly. She looked back at him before looking toward the exit of the ship to make sure they were completely alone. She gave him a sly smile and lifted a hand to slip her finger under the collar of his shirt and gently pull him closer.

"Only because I won the bet," she explained before his lips met hers in a searing kiss that nearly made her legs give way beneath her. Had it not been for Vaako's arms slipping around her to hold her closer to him, she knew she would have fallen.

One of his hands slipped up to pull her hair down from its messed bun so he could run his fingers through it and pull her closer as their tongues dueled, passionately. She couldn't believe how sensual he could kiss her. She'd imagined it over and over again when they were younger, before the Necromongers attacked them, but this was so much more than she had imagined and even though they'd kissed before, he still surprised her.

Finally pulling away to breathe, their eyes met for a moment before Vaako glanced down at her neck, pushing some hair away to look at the injury Dame Vaako had left on her from her ambush. He ran his thumb over the healing wound gently and she winced slightly, making him jerk his hand away.

"I'm sorry," he whispered.

Lenore could tell by the tone that he was apologizing for more than just touching her small injury. He was apologizing for the actions of Dame Vaako, and it made her want to find the woman and strangle her. In fact, it made her want to find out what horrible thing Riddick might be doing to her. Lenore placed her hands on Vaako's face, gently to pull his gaze to hers.

"You need not apologize for her, Damon," she smiled, running her thumbs over his cheeks, soothingly. "You weren't the one holding the knife to my throat, and you didn't send her there, either."

"But I didn't protect you," he mumbled. "I swore I would protect you, remember?"

"You can't protect me from everything," she whispered, her hands slipping down his neck to rest on his shoulders as his hands slid to her waist. "You can't beat yourself up with guilt every time I get into trouble."

Vaako nodded, but she knew it hadn't made him feel any better about what had happened. She took one of his hands and led him toward the room where they'd stored their bags and picked up his to hand to him with a grin as he frowned at her in wonder.

"We've been given an opportunity for a new start, Damon," she smiled. "A new life in a new place with new people to meet. I think we should make new promises and leave old ones behind. Shall I tell you my new promise?"

Vaako smirked subtly and nodded as he shouldered his bag and her smile grew warmer as she stepped closer to him and slid her arms around his chest, setting her head upon it.

"I promise to love you and stay by your side no matter what," she replied, quietly. "I promise to never, ever mention anything about what happened on Celus Four again, and I promise that nothing will come between us. I lost you once, and I promise never to lose you again."

Vaako stared ahead for a moment before slipping his arms around her shoulders and holding her close, setting his chin on her head for a moment before letting her go.

"We have to go," he whispered, and Lenore let go of him as well to grab her bag in one hand, his hand in the other. They headed out of the ship and Vaako stopped them at the end of the gangplank to turn her to face him, still holding her hand.

"I still promise to protect you," he began, making her smile as he gripped her hand a little tighter. "I promise to try to forget Commander Vaako and remember who I was before the day I became him. You'll have me back completely someday soon, Lenny. I promise."

Tears were starting to fill her eyes as she threw herself into his arms again to hide them, but he noticed it in her voice as she shuddered, "You haven't used my nickname in years. I forgot how nice it sounded when you said it."

"There's another promise," he smirked, holding her close. "I promise to call you that almost all the time as long as we're together."

"I love you, Damon," she breathed, still hugging him closer, and he returned the action with a sigh of contentment.

"I'll never get tired of hearing you say that," he whispered.

"Good," she chirped. "Because I will never get tired of saying it."

"Good," he nodded, kissing her head. "Let's go find a place to sleep for the night at least."

Lenore nodded and pulled away to walk hand in hand with him out of the hangar they'd landed in.

A/N: reviews?