Subject 12274

CH2: The Fight and Rebirth

A/N: Thank you for your patience. I've been busy with life in general as well as a writer's block. There is telekinetic communication between Sub and Riddick but he talks out loud and she with her mind. Enjoy!

The neutral void filling out over Riddick's body made him question whether or not he survived the fight with the girl. When he did a system check on himself, he felt numb all over, made him worry even more. What happened after she came at me? He wondered, not recalling any fight between himself and the female. When he opened his eyes, he stared up at a dark, foggy sky. There was no moon or stars that usually shined overhead. He sat up slowly, feeling his head spin like a whirlpool as he looked around in the grassy field he laid in and saw he was alone.

"I would have stayed down if I were you," a feminine voice floated out from the darkness.

"Well, you're not me are you now?" As he stood, he heard a nightmare-ish growls and multiple creatures running around him. Listening to them alone told Riddick that whatever it was, it was bigger than him. He went for where his shiv usually was and found nothing. He was unarmed with an enemy he couldn't see. "What is this thing?"

"Things," the voice corrected him. "And they're hungry." Riddick looked down and saw massive slash wounds to his legs, abdomen and arms. It looked like he got into a fight with fan blades and lost. It was a miracle he hadn't bled out already. On his left wrist…was an eight fanged bite mark? What the hell did that? When he looked up at a severely close growl, he saw a giant creature on four legs, slowly crawling towards him. The closer it got, the clearer he saw it. It was about seven and a half feet tall at the shoulder; flesh dripped off the body, burning like acid when it fell on the ground. It had teeth like a crocodile, except for four incisors the size of Riddick's fingers. Even though it had no eyes, the hideous beast stared straight at him. Heaving, dark purrs came from the animal, its breath steaming the air and it stood still just feet away.

"What is it?" He felt a warm body come up to his back. He felt a face press close to his ear.

"It's a Soul Reaper. It takes the souls of the people who have passed and deliver them to the UnderVerse." Riddick couldn't help but stare at the Reaper. "Because you haven't come to terms with being dead, it has to tear your soul out of your body to collect it." As if it acknowledged its purpose, the Reaper growled low, the tremors vibrating the ground. Its razor black claws kneaded the ground, anxious to have at Riddick.

"When did I die?"

"When you fought…her. She took your life and a Soul Reaper has come for you. And like I said," She smiled viciously. "It's hungry." As the Reaper was about to lunge, it suddenly looked above Riddick and roared. The air was filled with a high electrical piercing noise. As Riddick covered his ears, the Reaper whined from the shrill and ran away. Suddenly, jolts of electricity shot through Riddick's body, causing his body to spasm and drop to the ground. The world around him began to blur. Then, the ground began to drag his body into a crater around him.

"What the hell is going on?" Riddick yelled as he struggled to grip the now forming sides of the sinking hole. A figure came up to him and bent down. As it got closer, he realized who it was. "Kyra?"

She smiled at his confusion, her pale, green, Necro eyes bored holes into his. "I almost had you, you know. So close too. You could have been with me Riddick." And as if two hands grabbed his ankles, he was pulled down into the dark hole. As he fell, he saw the Reaper look over the edge next to Kyra.

Pain shocked him everywhere the void had been. Landing from the fall, every cut burned like fire, and pounded with every beat of his heart. Wait…my heart is beating? Beeping from a monitor confirmed it: He was alive. Voices were muffled as they came in and out like a bad radio station.

"…She had to have pois…he didn't stand…going in there…"

"She kept him….days. He could've…lost…blood…"

"There's no…could have survived…"

Like waking up with a bad hangover, he tried to open his eyes. He saw a light overhead, and the shadows of people standing over him. He saw the dark hair of Vaako on his right and Aereon's bleach white hair. Wait, since when can I see in color?His head began to ache like someone was taking a hammer to his skull and, as easy as blinking, he passed out.

Hours later, he came to again, this time, the room was dark. As the soft beeping kept going, he raised his arms to find them white with bandages. He had stitches that sewed up deep claw marks on his chest and sides. Suddenly, he was picked up and thrown across the room. But, instead of hitting the wall, he went through it and landed on a dirt floor. Rising slowly, he looked around. To his surprise and worry, he was back down in the cage.

You are awake. I wondered if you had survived. You weren't breathing when I last saw you. He turned to where her voice came from. She was curled in a corner. Her tail wrapped in a circle around her. She stared at the ground as she drew in the soft dirt with a claw. To his amazement, she didn't have a scratch on her from their fight.

"Why don't I remember fighting you?" He didn't go any closer than he was already. She killed him once, she could do it again. And her sitting down didn't make him feel any easier about being back in the 'fighting ring' with her.

The memories of the fight are too much to bear for you if you do not remember.

"Let me be the judge of that. Now, give them back."

I am not the one who has hidden them. Something else has.

Suddenly, he felt a stirring within him. Like something was moving underneath his skin. Looking down to make sure, he saw nothing. When he looked up, she was looking at him. Her silver eyes captivated him, putting him into a calming trance.

It's awakened in you, hasn't it?

"What are you talking about?" He tensed when she stood up and walked over to him. When she reached him, she gently took his left arm and flipped it palm up. She lightly ran her clawed finger over the bite wound. "Did you do that?"

I did…but the results of it were not what I expected.

"What did it do, and, what should it have done?" His eyes were now on her finger on his arm, mesmerized by her soft touch.

It should have killed you. At the very least send you into a coma.

"That's comforting. Then what did it do?" She stopped her movement and looked him in the eyes.

You should have died. But instead, it awakened something in you.

She backed away slowly. He went to go to her, but he couldn't move. A light flashed over her eyes and he was instantly pulled backward. When he landed, he was back in the room he woke up in. He gazed around furiously to find her but he was met by Aereon.

"She bled into you, didn't she?" She asked in a raspy voice. She was more see-through than normal. "When she bit you, did some of her blood get into the wound?" Riddick looked down at his arm, flexing his sore arm.

"I don't remember the fight at all. All I remember is her jumping at me." He looked up at Aereon. "What the hell happened?"

Aereon floated towards his bed with a grim look on her face. "A Dark Elemental have a venom and it's injected through biting. Sometimes it's used for branding on a mate, other times it's meant to kill. She bit to kill you Riddick."

"What went wrong?" He asked.

"When her blood got into the wound somehow, it mixed with the venom causing it to blend together and change."

"What are you saying? Am I poisoned?"

"No, it's much more than that." She hesitated. "She turned you."