You guys are awesome. Thanks Nightraven81, Nightstar28, EternityInYourArms, Elliesmeow, DarkDream1982, bibirijks, White-Dragon-Of-Hope, Moody-Muse, CeruleanKitten, ArtLightLove, and lizziebug, for the reviews, they made me very happy on the last chapter and were very much needed to keep me from going crazy while writing my thesis. Special thanks to my amazing beta divine_one =) Okay, so this chapter is going to be a little shorter than what you guys are used to from me, but I didn't want to leave you without an update for too long, and there will be a part 2 to coming soon if I can help it.

Riddick's POV

There is a moment of silence before anything else is said. But it doesn't last long before we both end up in hysterical laughter. Of all the ships in the galaxy, his had to be the one that finds us first.

"Damn you are a sight for sore eyes boy."

"Sure you can see at all old man?" I say between laughing and stepping forward to shake his hand.

"Who you callin' old? I can still kick your scrawny ass with my hands tied behind my back!"

"Oh I would just like to see you try it ol'man." I say as we trade soft punches on each other's arms.

"Umm excuse me? Someone mind filling in the rest of us here?" Paris says impatiently as he waves his hand to get my attention. I just glare back at him and he takes a step backwards which just makes me mentally laugh.

"Nice to see you're still scaring people Riddick."

I shrug my shoulders at this. "It comes with the reputation." This just makes him crack up into laughter again.

"Aww hell, you ain't that scary, if anything you're like a teddy bear."

"…with fangs." River says with a twinge of amusement in her voice.

"What did you call me ol'man?" I say as I turn back to him in a challenging manner, but he knows it's all for show.

River just lowers her arms and begins to shake her head as she puts her hands on her hips. "War buddies."

I turn back to the others again, Book, Shazza, and Paris still have their arms raised while River just looks highly amused. "You can put your arms down, Monty here isn't going to shoot anyone…well not unless you give him a reason to."

"Aww, now why did you tell them that? Now I can't pretend to be all mean and menacing." Monty says as he mock pouts.

"You two are war buddies?" Book asks with a small amount of surprise in his voice.

"Not everything the Alliance says about me is true Shepherd."

"Come on let's go up to the mess and we can tell ya all about it." Monty says as he begins to walk towards the stairs. He turns around before he reaches them and bellows to the rest of his crew. "What you all staring at? Get your lazy asses back to work!" And with that everyone begins holstering guns and going back about their business as Monty leads us to the mess.

River's POV

By the time Monty has everyone seated at the larger circular table in the mess, the girl has probed his mind to see if he can truly be trusted. She finds that while his outside appearance is rather gruff, he is more like a large Saint Bernard puppy...with a huge beard.

Book is the first to break into questioning Monty about his and Riddick's past. "So you both fought together in the Unification War?"

"Yeah, during one of my escapes from the slam I joined up with some E-TAC Independent soldiers on Beylix. No one really knew who I was at that time, and they were glad to have another able body to fight. Monty here was my platoon leader."

"Boy was a lot scrawnier then too." Monty says as he claps Riddick on the back. Riddick answers the comment with a glare and the girl can tell that he does not like being reminded of this, she will have to remember that for future reference.

"Anyways, Most of the platoon was captured by the Alliance before the end of the War, but I kept escaping them. I finally just decided to steal one of their shuttles and leave world because most of the platoon was dead or captured."

"Pissed the Alliance off so much they started all the rumors that he killed off most of the platoon himself. They were just too proud to admit one man could evade capture by Alliance soldiers," Monty adds.

"Interesting." The girl replies as she raises an eyebrow at the Riddick.

"So enough with the past, how the hell did you all end up on that life raft we found you on?" Monty asks now that the history portion of the discussion is over with.

"It's a long story." Book says as he pinches the bridge of his nose.

"Well, it ain't like you're going anywhere, so you might as well start talking." Monty replies.

"The Riddick would be the best person to tell you our story." The girl says as she folds forward to rest her elbows and chin on the table. This is going to take a while so she may as well be comfortable.

…Reality Shifts…

It's dark in the Tam house, quiet, and the curtains billow in the wind of the open window. River sits in her father's favorite chair in Regan and Gabriel's bedroom. She has not bothered to turn on the lights, knowing full well that they will do it for her very shortly.

She can hear the car approaching the driveway, the crunch of gravel beneath the tires. She begins to breathe deeply, closes her eyes, places her hands on the armrests, and crosses her legs at the knee. She is purposefully arranging herself this way, she wants to be unsettling, something that oozes danger, and nothing like the scared little girl they sent away all those years ago.

I am watching the rise and fall of my salvation.
There's so much shit around me.
Such a lack of compassion.

The faint sound of heels on the marble floor can be heard downstairs. She counts the clicks of her mother's shows as they walk up the stairs, 15, 14, 13… She also hears the muffled steps of her father's expensive leather shoes. 9,8,7… They are discussing some matter of business or gossip, River could really care less which it is. 3,2,1…That's when the bedroom door opens, the light is flicked on, and she opens her eyes and looks directly into the faces of her 'parents.'

I thought it would be fun and games (would be fun and games).
Instead it's all the same (it's all the same).
I want something to do.
Need to feel the sickness in you.

"Hello Mother, Father, did you miss me?" River asks with a wicked grin through a veil of hair.

…Realty Shifts…

The girl is being pulled out of her 'home' by force. She would scream, but knows it would not do any good. Her 'parents' look on as the men with blue hands drag their daughter out the front door. She is thrown onto a stretcher, and is then strapped down. She feels the bindings cut into her skin as she claws at the hands that hold her down.

"This one is a hellion isn't she?" One of the men with blue hands says. River then proceeds to spit in his face, and is rewarded with a slap across her cheek. She recoils from the force and her eyes begin to fill with darkness.

The last thing she hears as she loses consciousness is a man's voice. "Our sense of power is more vivid when we break a man's spirit than when we win his heart."

…Reality Shifts…

River is standing before the mirror in Regan and Gabriel Tam's bathroom with the hot water from the sink running. Her hands are braced on either side of the basin and she leans forward slightly inspecting what she sees.

I feel the reason as it's leaving me,
no, not again.
Its quite deceiving as I'm feeling
the flesh made me bad.

Her hair hangs in long tendrils around her face and it almost looks like snakes. But her hair has lost the shine it had when she was younger. Her skin is the color of milk, but it has an ashen grey hue to it from being kept in her cage. Her eyes are no longer bright and inquisitive; they are jaded and filled with anger.

All I wanna do it look for you.
And when I fix, you needed to.
Just to get some sort of attention, attention.

"Anger is one of the sinews of the soul." She says to no one but herself.

She begins to wash her hands in the sink, and watches as the water turns a vibrant red. It almost looks like the color of fire, River thinks to herself. She turns the faucet off now and begins to dry her hands on the towel hanging nearby.

What does it mean to you?
For me it's something I just do.
I want something.
I need to feel the sickness in you.

She walks out into the bedroom once again and goes to the open window to depart. But as she is about to jump out of the window she turns and looks at her work and remembers what she read when she was little, "A guilty conscience needs to confess. A work of art is a confession." The room is now bathed in bright scarlet; it is splattered against everything, the walls, the ceiling, the carpet, the bed. All that is heard is the sound of River's laughter as she jumps out the window.

…Reality Shifts Again…

Riddick's POV

I just finished telling Monty what happened on the hell-hole of a planet we just left, well maybe leaving out a few choice details about River's 'skills.' Can't have him think I have lost my touch now, he'd never let me live it down.

"Well shit, Riddick, sounds like you went through hell and back."

"You have no idea ol' man."

"Well let's get you folks to some rooms then, sounds like ya'll need a good night's rest." Monty says as he stands up from the table. "Someone wanna wake the little one up?"

"Riddick better do that, she's a might unpredictable." Book says as he stands up.

"She gonna need her own room?" Monty asks with a questioning look.

"No, she can crash with me," I say. This earns a look from Monty but he knows better than to question me right now and the others just roll their eyes.

"Take the first room on the left after you wake her up, I'll show everyone else to their rooms, and I'll be on the bridge after that" he says as he begins to walk out the door to the passenger dorms.

I stand there for a minute after the others walk out and look over at River. She has fallen asleep at t table with her arms crossed under her chin, and while her face is as calm as can be, I can tell the muscles of her body are tensed and ready for a fight, the girl was trained well. I move closer and move to brush a piece of hair that has fallen in front of her face.

River's POV

While the last fingers of sleep still cling to her mind, she feels something brush against her cheek. "The only time I have problems is when I sleep." The girl says as she becomes fully awake.

"Nightmares?" The Riddick asks.

"Memories." The girl says with a slight shudder.

"Come on, we need to talk and we can't do it here." The Riddick says as he moves toward the room Monty gave him.

The girl rises to her feet, and slowly trails after Riddick, softly speaking to herself. "Won't stop. Won't ever stop. They'll just keep coming..."

As she reaches the threshold of the passenger quarters she pauses. "Hermes will be needed for this conversation."

"Is he really necessary?" Riddick says as he arches a brow. She can feel the irritation dripping off him, the first time he truly gets her alone without having to worry about those 'things' eating them or getting rescued and he doesn't want to have the holy man around for it.

"Affirmative. Repetition is irksome." She crosses her arms at this to show it is not up for negotiation.

"Fine." Riddick bites out as he stomps down the corridor.

"Fourth door on the right." She calls out after him as she enters their room.

Author's Note: Hope you guy's enjoyed this =) I promise to try and finish my thesis asap so I can spend more time on this.