The ghosts that we knew
Chapter 7-2
~So crawl on my belly till the sun goes down
I'll never wear your broken crown
Now in this twilight, how dare you speak of grace?
But in this twilight, our choices seal our fate~
Carolyn Fry stood in her room, staring out the window at the bleak landscape covered in graves, a washed out sun doing it's best to illuminate the planet.
To this day, it still reminded her of the stories she had heard of post-apocalyptic worlds. But, she supposed, it was to be expected. The Necromongers had nearly decimated the planet along with its people, but thanks to the Furyan's sheer ruthlessness and blood lust they hadn't gone down easily.
Like Riddick, this entire race was more animal than man and being around them reminded her in aching detail how much she'd never wanted a man like Riddick till she'd had a taste of him. She'd want him always.
She had to chuckle to herself though. Riddick would probably be pissed to know that he was a walk in the park compared to these people. At least he had his own moral code she sighed, thinking back to another lifetime that included a girl named Jack and a drug addicted Merc.
Not these people. She had seen abhorrent things in the time she had been here, done deplorable things in the name of survival, had horrific things done to her all in the name of punishing Riddick.
She was the closest they had been to having their pound of flesh. But, as far as Carolyn was concerned they had taken their pound of flesh and then some as they forced their Furyan attributes upon her. Fucking Furyan's and their fucking head games.
Months now, with no hope, no promise of salvation.
She had learned to show no emotion outside of this room. Showing emotion was bad, very bad. They used it to twist and turn her inside out till they had shattered her self-control, not happy till they had her crashing to her knees in front of them, begging and pleading with her very soul for it to stop.
She knew their history well, knew their traditions well. Knew everything that had happened to these people from the day of Riddick's birth to the present. Had been shown mental image after mental image till her brain was twisted into thinking it had happened to her. Knew of their hatred of him, for him. How they blamed him, and in their warped way of thinking, her, for the destruction brought down upon their heads by the prediction of an Elemental.
She had seen several from the Elemental race tortured since her arrival. Been made to watch, sometimes actually take part. To not, meant instant death. These people were sadistically twisted and none more so than Riddick's own mother, Bellona.
Carolyn hated the woman. Hoped that she burned in the fiery bowels of whatever hell she went to. The woman was pure evil and wanted nothing more than to see her own son crushed to pieces in front of her.
With a sigh, Carolyn planned her own demise even as her guard led her out among the graves. They had placed a cushioned chair next to this particular grave for her to sit in, and they made her sit by it every day, rain or gloom. The two speeds this planet seemed to have.
The planet itself wasn't as dead as she had once thought looking out her window. Tall grasses waved between the headstones, birds hovered in the sparsely covered trees that still stood. They had dumped her that first day on the ground in front of his empty grave causing her to stagger through countless premonitions of both their deaths. Sitting here day after day she realized that they didn't know Riddick. Neither did she for that matter.
It was time for both herself and these people to understand that Riddick wasn't coming for her, would never come for her and to end this game that they were all playing
She sat there covered in the rain and ashes of this planet and its people, leaving her fingerprints everywhere. It seemed as though her very soul was being slashed to the core as these people, she could never think of them as Riddick's people, attempted to cover her in their own sins.
Thinking that this was a fit and proper place to end things, Carolyn slipped out of the chair she was in and crawled upon the ground till she was leaning up against the gravestone. Pulling the knife she had managed to steal out of her boot, she sat tracing the letters of his name with her fingers for a moment.
She had no sooner brought the knife to her wrist before Raynor swooped down out of nowhere, wrapping a hand around her throat even as he jerked her up against him knocking the knife out of her hand.
Carolyn cried out in anger.
"I think I shall ask my mother if I can finally have you," he said next to her ear, his breath sending goose bumps along her skin even as his fingers dug into the tender flesh on her neck
Carolyn gritted her teeth, turning her head away from him only to watch as Bellona and Bhaltair appeared as well.
"It seems my dear," Bellona addressed her, "that Riddick is even more treasonous than we first thought. It appears as though he's actually in collusion with the very horde that he betrayed our race to as an infant."
Well bully for him, Carolyn thought. She'd probably side with horde of Necromongers right now herself.
"We've already sent a messenger to him. If he chooses not to respond, we'll simply have to send a stronger message to get our point across." Bellona said looking down at her, her eyes almost black. Cupping Carolyn's cheeks with her hands, she tilted her face towards her.
Carolyn didn't answer, simply stood waiting for what was next.
"As long as my son lives, you breathe," Bellona said leaning down to kiss Carolyn on the lips before pulling back. "However, breathing can be as painful as living, wouldn't you agree?"
Carolyn cried out in pain as Raynor jerked her arm, pulling her behind him back into the stone fortress, down several flights of stairs, his brother on their heels, Bellona following. Slamming her down into a chair her feet and hands were bound to the arms and legs, her head forced back, some type of restraint holding it in place. "Fetch Conall," Bellona instructed Bhaltair.
Carolyn could only sit there in silence. Riddick was alive and was coming after her. What could she possibly say to that after swearing to his mother that he would leave her here to die? Riddick was forever turning her inside out.
Later, as her silence erupted into screams that reverberated throughout the fortress, her mind spun ceaselessly as she concentrated solely on Riddick's image.