10/25/10 - Author's Note: After re-reading this chapter I decided that a lot of it needed to go and that I would be taking the story in a different direction. I promise to update with more later.

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They all just watch as the two killers battle it out. It was oddly startling and beautiful at the same time.

They didn't really start to get worried until Riddick and River ended up tangled around one another on the floor.

"Are they gonna stop?" Monty directs his question to Book.

"Oh, gou shu, I don't think so…Riddick!...River!" But his calls fall on deaf ears.

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River's POV

She grits her teeth as he squeezes her esophagus tighter.

He elicits a strained warning. "Forfeit…the…game."

This just pisses her off, how dare he tell her to quit. Her eyes narrow and she releases her hands from where they had been trying to pry his grasp off her neck, and she begins to feel around to the side of her. She can just feel the wood to her left with her fingertips.

She chuckles as much as possible with his hands wrapped around her throat. "Negative…You love…the way I look…at you, while taking pleasure…in the awful things…you put me through." She wraps her fingers around the wood while arching her pelvis up into his body to tease him.

He grins and that's when she bashes him on the head with the wood she had just been able to grab. While it doesn't knock him out, it does daze him and the girl is able to use her legs to push him off of her to the right. She disentangles her limbs from around him and collapses to the floor next to him, panting for breath.

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Riddick's POV

My head throbs from where she bashed the fucking wood against my skull, but through the dull ache I can feel her lying next to me, sweaty, panting for breath. The smell of lavender, cloves, and salt, the smell of her, fills my nostrils and clouds my head even more.

"To say that we…are mired in…stalemate…seems the only…realistic…yet, highly unsatisfactory… conclusion." She says.

"Are you…giving in then?" I say as I turn to look at her. Her chest rises and falls taking in huge breaths and a smile forms on her face.

"Negative…this was…just round one."

"…Shiny…"

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River's POV

There had been some shouting and arguing between who the 'winner' was of their little show. Monty was none too pleased to hand over fifty credits to Paris, due to River 'technically' having the last solid blow in the duel. He begrudgingly handed the money over to the little man.

Monty had yelled at the crew that the show was over, and everyone went back about their business. Book had insisted on checking on some of the girl's more serious looking bruises in the infirmary. She had rolled her eyes, giving what was fast becoming her 'you're a boob' look, but had relented and followed the man to quite him.

"There is no need for a lecture Hermes," she says as crosses the threshold. She winces at the memories the cold metal table in the center of the room elicits.

"And who says I am going to give you a lecture?" He says as he begins searching through drawers for bandages for her bruised knuckles.

"Please, your mind screams it."

"I am just…"

"Meddlesome?" She moves to sit on the counter instead of the table.

Book takes one of her hands and begins to wrap it. "Concerned, you two are rather…combustible around one another, and he is what, twice your age?"

"Negative, Orpheus is 11.4 years older than the Queen."

"Still, wouldn't it be better if…"

"Negative. Two by two. Everyone has a match, a mate, a doppler."

"And I shouldn't be concerned by this? I mean look at what your little 'dance' did." He says as he finishes wrapping her hands and raises an eyebrow at her.

As she stares at the table in front of her she answers him in a soft whisper. "No, maybe we have to break things in order to make them better."

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…Reality Shifts…

…There's something inside me[Soft Break]That pulls beneath the surface[Soft Break]Consuming, confusing[Soft Break]This lack of self control I fear…

Strapped to the metal table, stripped bare for all the prying eyes to see, she shuts her eyes and counts…

Discomfort, endlessly has pulled

…the heart beats 1001, 1002…

Itself upon me distracting, reacting

…the footsteps, 45, 46…

Against my will I stand beside my own reflection[Soft Break]It's haunting how I can't seem…[Soft Break][Soft Break]…the needles, 7,8, 9, 10…

…To find myself again[Soft Break]My walls are closing in[Soft Break](Without a sense of confidence)

Their voices talk about what a vision she is, what extraordinary grace, their prize, their weapon.

(I'm convinced that there's)[Soft Break](Just too much pressure to take)[Soft Break]I've felt this way before so insecure[Soft Break][Soft Break]She hears what the voices say only to her and...

Crawling in my skin[Soft Break]These wounds they will not heal[Soft Break]Fear is how I fall[Soft Break]Confusing what is real

…she screams.

…Reality Shifts Again…

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River's POV

She leaves the infirmary in somewhat of a daze after her flash. She can still feel where the needles pricked her skin, pierced her skull, and it makes her shutter. She sways slightly as she walks, unsure if it's from the dance or the memory. Either way she needs sleep; sweet blissful sleep.

She reaches their room and is surprised that he is not here waiting for her, but she is too tired to care. She strips off her sweaty clothes letting them hit the metal beneath her feet with soft thuds. It feels as if she is pulling off a thick layer of grim as the air hits her skin.

Fresh clothes will be necessary when they land on Persephone.

Once the offending garments have been stripped off she walks to the bed, eyes barely open and falls onto the mattress, pulling the coverlet up around her body. She takes a moment to inhale the remnants of Orpheus' scent, dark coffee and cardamom, with a hint of salt. She smiles and closes her eyes.

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Riddick's POV

I let my head fall against the tile wall in front of me as the water hits my head and shoulders. While it's not the hottest shower, the tepid warmth is helping my muscles loosen and uncoil. But as I begin to think about why I feel like this, my muscles just begin to tense again. That girl, that gorram little slip of a girl, that deadly little thing.

The way her hair coils in waves like snakes, the way her eyes flash with emotion yet her faces gives nothing away. She can match every one of my steps, and isn't afraid of the monster that I am. Oh she'll be trouble. And a smile crosses my face.

After another minute or so I get out of the shower and pull my goggles and cargos back on, the shirt isn't worth it, it smells like a gorram piece of gou shu.

I walk back to the room hoping the girl is there. I open the door and slip in. Without even needing to look I know she's in here, the lavender consumes the room.

I take my goggles off and look into the darkness. She's there; curled up like kitten under the covers, face away from the door. Her hair falling in her face, tangled around her. The perfect skin of her back peeks out from underneath the blanket on top of her, while her arm lies across the bed stretching towards the other side.

Suddenly there is a giggle. "It's not polite to stare." She says.

"Didn't think you would mind."

"The Queen doesn't." She says as she rolls towards me, arms coming to stretch up over her head as her back arches and the blanket slips a little lower on her body.

"Careful lil one, you didn't like it when I teased you last night." I say as I stalk towards her, my muscles tightening again at the sight of her.

She smiles at this. "The best way to behave is to misbehave."

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River's POV

As soon as the words left her lips, his hands came crashing down on either side of her, his weight covering her as it had earlier.

"You really should be careful what you say. Never know how I am going to take things."

"Your mind screams what you want to do though…Biting, clawing, blood, pain… sweet dreams are made of these, who am I to disagree?"

"You sure about that girly? I am not a good man, by any means. You sure you can take it?" He says as he grinds his hips into the girl. She can feel what she's doing, and she smiles.

She raises up on her arms and whispers in his ear. "When I'm good I'm very, very good, but when I'm bad, I'm better."

That's the last thing she says before his lips come crashing down on hers and the music begins to fill her ears.

Sweet dreams are made of these[Soft Break]Who am I to disagree?[Soft Break]Travel the world and the seven seas[Soft Break]Everybody's looking for something

He's ripping the cover away from her body now, as his lips continue to devour hers. Her hands are coming to his back as the fire inside her builds. Once the blanket is out of the way the bare skin of his chest meets hers for the first time. The touch of his skin on hers feels like its burning her alive.

Some of them want to use you[Soft Break]Some of them want to get used by you[Soft Break]Some of them want to abuse you[Soft Break]Some of them want to be abused

His hands are now grasping the slight curves of her body, making her body more inflamed. His hands are not gentle, not soft caresses, they are calloused, harsh, and will leave bruises in their wake. Her feral grin appears as he continues to overwhelm her mouth with his.

I wanna use you and abuse you[Soft Break]I wanna know what's inside you

Her hands move to the waistband of his cargo pants and begin tear at the fabric. She wants the last barrier removed and she wants it gone…now. She brings her legs up on either side of his and uses her feet to pull the pants down. As she does, she can feel him pull her body down to his hips. But instead of pulling her completely around him, he stops just before.

Sweet dreams are made of these[Soft Break]Who am I to disagree?[Soft Break]Travel the world and the seven seas[Soft Break]Everybody's looking for something

"I'm not the hero bao-bei, that's never going to be me, you sure?"

She groans at this and thrusts her hips downward hissing in a breath as he fills her. "When choosing between two evils, I always like to try the one I've never tried before."

Some of them want to use you[Soft Break]Some of them want to get used by you[Soft Break]Some of them want to abuse you[Soft Break]Some of them want to be abused

That's all it took for him, there was no more hesitation. He's grabbing her hips with enough force to leave finger shaped bruises and rocking in and out of her. She cannot help but smile more and drags her nails down his back leaving bloody welts in their wake.

I'm gonna use you and abuse you[Soft Break]I'm gonna know what's inside[Soft Break]Gonna use you and abuse you[Soft Break]I'm gonna know what's inside you

XXX

Nobody sees them at meals the rest of the day. While they aren't loud, the growls and hisses people hear behind the door are enough to keep them away. When they do finally come out for a meal, River's hair really does look like a bunch of snakes, Riddick's got a black eye, and both of them have bruises and bite marks up and down their exposed skin.

"What the bloody hell happened to you too!" Paris says somewhat idiotically. Shazza elbows him in the ribs for being that stupid.

Both River and Riddick look at each other and shrug their shoulders and Riddick answers. "Dance practice."

Monty can't help but busting up laughing at this.

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