Watching sorrow

by CAGRIFF-I-DOOR

What if Harry was more betrayed than we ever knew? What if the prophecy was false? what will happen when he finds out? Just ask the goblins

Watching Sorrow Posted originally on the Archive of Our Own at /works/1150060.

Rating: Not Rated Archive Warning: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Category: M/M Fandom: Pitch Black (2000), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling Relationship: Harry Potter/Richard B. Riddick Language: English Stats: Published: 2014-01-24 Completed: 2022-01-25 Words: 28,623

Chapters: 20/20

Watching Sorrow by shatteredstar

Summary

What if Harry was more betrayed than we ever knew? What if the prophecy was false? what will happen when he finds out? Just ask the /users/shatteredstar/pseuds/shatteredstar

The Why

I own nothing but my insanity... please tell me if this story is worth continuing

Prologue:

"Finally," whispered the young man. "I will fix it all; I will be released from the torment of my own stupidity." The man in question was a beautiful sight to behold, he had glowing green eyes, with slit silver pupils, his hair was long, it stopped just above his hips. His skin was a wondrous pale honey color, though it hadn't seen the sun in over 50 years, and his lips were of a delicate peony hue.

Though he was beautiful however this was not the most spectacular thing about the young man, nor was the fact that he was still young after 2,000 years of life…No, the most spectacular thing about this boy was that he was a chaos beast.

COV

I remember when we found out that Dumbledore was alive, how we smiled when we learned that he had faked his death with Severus so that he could hunt horcrux's. I remember how we threw a party for the old man we all loved… and I wish now that I had known the truth then.

'It has been more than two thousand years since I was tricked into destroying my mates, I was the chosen one. Beloved of all magic. But when I was born, I was bound, my magic was put into a non- functioning state, and I was sent to an abusive home. My relatives did everything imaginable to me, and when I was eleven I was "rescued" by a gentle giant. Oh, I'm sure that if you know your history you know who I am, I was 'The Boy Who Lived, Defeater of the Great Dark Lord Voldemort." And for all of that at first I could not understand why after I finally killed the monster who slaughtered my parents, wiped out the hordes of his death eater's (not even one survived) why, after all of this did I feel empty?'

'I didn't find out until 6 months later what was wrong, not until I overheard Dumbledore and Snape wondering why I wasn't dead yet. Snape was being all sorts of ruffled, talking about how 'this shouldn't be possible, he should have died after he killed his second mate, no chaos beast should be able to survive the loss of his mates, his very magic should have destroyed him!' at first I didn't know what he was talking about; I didn't realize that they were talking about me… so I just kept on listening.

Dumbledore started trying to soothe him, discussing what could be done, because I was dangerous… suddenly he stopped and said 'Severus, that is it!' he hasn't died because his magic is still bound! If we release his magic, it will seek his mate and when it discovers that he himself has destroyed them, it will destroy him!' I could actually hear Snape thinking at this point, and was desperately trying to figure out who was a chaos beast (they never actually mentioned my name)… at that point I had to pause… what was a chaos beast?'

'Finally after several moments, Severus said "we should release the other boy's magic at the same time, then we will have a halfway decent use for the excess power, and he will finally be at full power for our plans."

Dumbledore agreed and they started discussing plans for the rituals, it was then that I discovered who they were talking about…sort of. I heard them mention me and Blaise Zabini, but I didn't understand which of us was to take what role, and I thought that surely, my beloved professor

would be setting my power free for this and perhaps Blaise was the one that had to die… I couldn't have been more wrong.'

'I finally left, seeking the library, my curiosity driving me. What was a chaos beast? It took me 5 hours to find out what a chaos beast was, and what I found surprised me, it was just a short article, but it told me that I needed to help Blaise. This was not right at all. Here is what I found in our rather severely depleted library:

Chaos Beast: a being that is created by magic to protect the world, each has between 2 and 6 mates, in theory there could be more, but 6 is the largest quantity recorded. Known to have many traits of magical creatures, voice of the siren, hunger of the incubus/succubus, blood hunger of the vampire, shape-shifting, and dream walking. There are believed to be other powers that are individual to each being.

Their eyes are generally of strongly unusual colors. Hair can be any color, but generally will not grow until maturity. These creatures have extraordinarily long lives, in fact one has never died of natural causes; their body has a peculiar healing mechanism, in general they will heal in a way similar to humans until they are severely wounded, in which case their body tends to go into a coma and heal everything at an amazingly rapid pace. These are rare and amazingly powerful creatures, and the only time of real weakness is in infancy, or when rejected by a mate while unbonded; beware readers… should you cross a chaos beast, there is no place in any realm that will grant you sanctuary, for these are truly magic's most beloved children.

I had always loved magic, and she had always tried to grant me what I needed, she gave me a place in Hogwarts, and even when she could not protect me she at least never left me alone. I felt that if I could help one of her beloved, perhaps it would be a step towards repaying her for her kindness. Now, at this point you might be wondering why I did not realize that I was the chaos beast, what with my glaringly green eyes and honey colored flesh. However, to me, my eyes didn't seem that amazing, however Blaise, with his lustrous ebony skin and glowing ice-blue eyes seemed more likely to me than myself.

In a week's time both of us were called forth for the ritual, and I had a plan to disrupt it. It was very simple really, and I didn't understand the price involved. You see, my understanding of the ritual was flawed, while researching I came upon a text that partially explained the ritual, it would suck the magic and life force out of one of the two in the circles and feed it into the second, awakening all of their latent abilities, and all it took to reverse this process was for one of the two beings to carry a piece of amber against their skin.

Since we were told only that this was a ritual to awaken abilities that were dormant within us, and that we were going to be allowed only the simple white cotton robes over us, I took a small piece of amber and snuggled it into my belly-button. You see, I thought that by reversing this ritual I would die, but at this point in my life that seemed acceptable to me, I was tired. All my life I had been abused, I had won a war, fought ff a psychopath, been betrayed by my friend's and had no one to miss me. Blaise still had his mother to love him and his little sister adored him… to me, this was only fair; that I who had nothing should fall in place of the boy who had love. So I didn't fight, I walked into that circle smiling softly, ready to move on to the next adventure, and allow magic's most beloved child a chance to escape.

When the ritual began, there was beauteous warmth that felt of love and acceptance against my skin. I smiled; magic accepted my sacrifice for her own. I stood there waiting for the end to come… suddenly Blaise started screaming, and a cord connected between the two of us… at the navel. I felt the stone start to heat within my skin, and I joined in the screams. The pain was far worse than any mere cruciatus, and through the pain I realized in horror that the power was not

flowing from me but to me. It was at that moment that I realized how truly complete this betrayal was on the part of my mentor.

When the pain finally stopped, both of us hit the floor, until that point I had not realized that somewhere during the pain we began to float. When I landed all that I could think was that I needed to get away, any where safe, where I could get supplies and escape HIS insanity… and I felt my body dissolve. Mere seconds later I was solid again, and I was next to my trunk, which was thankfully packed (I hadn't wanted to force someone to have to clean up after me after my death). I grabbed my wand from the top of the trunk, shrunk it down and swiftly went off to Diagon Alley. It was truly fortunate that this summer I was staying at the leaky cauldron.

Somehow in mere seconds I already had a plan ready, to aid in my escape, my first stop was to Chester's Trunks. Several months ago before this started, I had considered leaving England; escaping all of the fame and going somewhere to simply learn more about magic. At that time I had ordered a most unusual trunk. It held 6 compartments, each of which held a small dimensional fold to vastly increase holding capacity. I was suddenly glad that I had told no one about this plan of mine; and that I had already paid for the great creation… it was now just awaiting my retrieval. So I went and gathered it up, placed my hand on the circle that caused it to shrink to the size of a wallet and put it into my pocket.

I knew that Dumbledore had great influence, stronger than mine, and that once he figured out what had happened he would try to freeze my assets, as such, I knew I had better get to them first. With that decided I swiftly strode to Gringotts. Once I was there I walked to the podium of the head floor goblin and spoke swiftly and quietly. "I need to speak to Account Manager Griphook, immediately."

The goblin sneered at the page he was looking at and then glanced at me with an expression of disdain, until he saw my face. Letting out a gasp, he swiftly rang a bell beside himself, and a goblin who was even better dressed than the one in front of me actually RAN to where we were and looked with concern at him. After seeing the way he wouldn't look away from me, the new goblin turned his glance upon me; his reaction was less obvious but I could still see he was unsettled by my presence by the way his eyes widened. He looked away from me, giving the floor a swift, and assessing glance, seeing that we had very few people's attention; he quickly relaxed a bit, it was only then that I realized he had fallen into a combat ready stance.

He looked at my face again critically then quietly stated "please, follow me, we have things that we should discuss in privacy." At this point, I was exhausted, confused, and very scared, so without any argument I simply followed him.

He led me to his office where he did what I would have LEAST expected from any of the proud goblin clan, he knelt before me. When he did so, I felt a strange instinct, and so I followed it, "rise child of gold, your services are needed, please step forward and assist me." With these words, he rose from his kneeling position, and ushered me to a chair. I swiftly sat in it, feeling my knees getting weak; it wasn't until I had sat down that I realized my hair had grown, as I felt it slide against my hips.

The goblin sat before me and looked me over with a strangely searching look. After a few moments, he appeared to get a hold of himself and looked me in the eye. "You said that you needed our assistance, what can we help you with?"

I got straight to the point; I told him everything that had happened, Dumbledore's betrayal and my expectation of dying, over hearing the conversation between Snape and the old coot. I explained that I had nearly no information about myself, and that I needed to get all of my liquid assets into

my trunk and escape before I lost the opportunity… and I told him that I had been tricked into destroying my mates.

When I was done, the goblin looked up at me, and I had never seen an expression like that in any face. The undiluted rage, and the wrath ready to pour forth evident in every line of his face… strangely, it warmed the void in my chest. He spoke and then suddenly I understood why... for some reason, he truly cared. "We will aid you, young one. Please hand me the trunk that you wish your belongings to go into." Without as much as a second thought I handed over the trunk. The goblin accepted the trunk, but did not get up yet; he glanced at me again, and then stared at the wall to his left. Without looking at me he asked a simple question "what do you intend to do about all of this?"

Until the moment he asked me that question, I had no solid plans beyond run, flee, to escape. However as the words left his mouth I could not help my mouth from responding "I will leave this country, learn of myself, gain control of all of my powers, gain enough knowledge to be able to make a difference… and then I am going to get my mother's assistance to go back and prevent it from happening."

The goblin looked at me inscrutably for a moment longer and then broke out in a toothy smile. "When you are ready for that step, come back to me here, I know a ritual that will get you back to where you need to be. Just ask for Ashsalt."

After that he finally left the room where I was sitting. And not twenty minutes later he reappeared before me, the trunk once again the size of a wallet. He handed it to me, I stood and put it into my pocket as I attempted to give my thanks. He quickly interrupted me "the Aurors are here already, and have just now put a freeze on your accounts." He paused to smirk at me, as if to say 'isn't it a shame they're already too late?' then he continued "we know of a place to send you to start your training, will you accept our offer of a recommendation and a portkey?"

I looked at Ashsalt slowly and then nodded. "With my thanks." He smirked again, and handed me a ring that I swiftly recognized as the Potter head of house ring; just before a hook caught just behind my navel and I appeared… elsewhere.

The Jump and Sight

Now, here he was with the ritual that Ashsalt had given to him, finally he was going to go back in time, and he was going to save his mate. He understood that by doing this he was probably going to write himself out of time, but at least he would know that his younger self would have a chance with his mate. With these thoughts, he made sure that he had all of his things in his trunk, it was still perfect for his purposes, everything was ready. With a grim smile, the chaos beast turned and swept through the glowing silver portal that would lead himself to the past. As he took that last step he turned and gave a jaunty wave to the old goblin portrait, smiling toothily at him as he felt the void in his chest suddenly throb…and all went dark.

When he awoke, he knew that something had gone wrong. He was surrounded by darkness, and he hurt everywhere. Glancing around, he noticed with rapidly rising horror that there was light…in a small line under a door in front of him. With a fear that he refused to accept as reality he felt around himself, trying to figure out where he was.

Suddenly he came back into possession of his wits and nearly head-palmed… what was he, a muggle? With a swift gesture of his hand a small light appeared before him. And his horror returned. Yup, if it could go wrong it would… He was back in the cupboard. He glanced around, and noticed that he was very small. Maybe six years of age. After a swift assessment, he was relieved to see his shrunken trunk still there with him.

As he sat there, he started going over his options, and three made themselves to the front of his mind. He could kill off his 'relatives' and try to make his way on his own; he could try to find Tom and get him resurrected, and then fight him off long enough to explain everything; OR he could use his abilities to get Lucius on his side and then get his help with Tom. Looking over the options, he decided to go with number 3, he had been alone for long enough, and Tom would be a hard sale without Lucius there as back up… he didn't want to hurt the man after all, and besides, Lucius still had that diary.

COV

Lucius growled, he hadn't had a decent nights sleep in over a week. Recently he had been having vivid dreams that disturbed him. As he sat there staring sullenly at his glass of wine he slipped back into his memory of the night before: he was surrounded by swirling silver light, as he walked through it his surroundings they slowly settled into an area he had never seen before.

He was in a small park in what he could only assume was a muggle area, there were many children playing on the equipment, but what caught his attention was a small boy who was crouching behind a slightly larger than himself bush. The boy was scrawny; he had many bruises showing on the small amount of flesh showing from beneath his ragged clothing. As he observed these details about him, the boy started glancing around as if he was expecting something to happen, only to start at something.

It was at this point that Lucius realized he couldn't hear anything, and when he thought this it was like the sound just snapped on. In his moment of inattention, he saw the small boy was surrounded by boys slightly older than himself, they were circling him like sharks, sensing blood in the water. The smaller boy didn't look scared, only resigned, like this had happened many times before, and he could no longer build up the energy to really fight it.

As the too weary green eyes looked around at his tormentors, a particularly corpulent boy strode forward. "You freak, wait until I tell dad that you purposely messed up my grades, you'll regret

messing with us, just you wait." As if these words were some sort of preset signal all of the circling boys swiftly came forward, and started to beat the small boy.

At this point the dream slowly faded out, leaving Lucius slightly disturbed at the level of hatred shown in children so young. As he spent a moment to try to figure out what it was that had drawn the larger boys' attention to the small one the dream faded back in. the small boy was still in the same place in the park, and the sun was setting, and he was just coming back to consciousness. As the boy moved in painfully slow movements, Lucius decided that he would stop fighting these dreams and see what was so important about this small green eyed boy.

With this determination in mind he followed the boy as he trudged slowly down the street, three blocks later Lucius' attention was drawn by the small boy to the street sign, it read Privet Dr. after the boy sighed and started trudging on again they soon made it to a white house with a silver number 4 nest to the door. They both walked in to the house and heard "Boy, where have you been! You know that you have chores to do after school! And Dudley told me about what you did to his grades at school. Go to the stairs."

The hugely obese man with the rather fuschia face had come from the kitchen, and when the boy didn't move quickly enough for his tastes, the man grabbed the boy, and dragged him to the stairs where Lucius was appalled to see that there were silver handcuffs setup and ready to be used attached to the banister well above the slight boys height 'surely he can't mean to… apparently he can.' Was the grim thought on Lucius' mind.

Lucius had no choice but to watch as the boy's shirt was torn off by the man, who then put his tiny wrists in the cuffs. He couldn't move when the man slipped off his belt and started to beat the boy, and he was transfixed by green eyes as the boys back was turned into so much raw meat. Finally Lucius realized something that he had missed before, the boy was looking him straight in the eye, thinking it was a fluke he took a step to the right, and the boy's gaze followed.

Finally the fat man stopped beating the boy, he undid the cuffs, which had bitten cruelly into the delicate wrists, which were now bleeding. Lucius continued to follow the boy, he was almost afraid of what would happen next, but he couldn't stop himself… he felt he HAD to know. To his disbelief the man threw the boy to the ground and screamed at him to clean up his mess, and the boy did it, as the boy worked on the blood on the walls and floor, Lucius' gaze was drawn to something amazing, the worst of the boys wounds were drawing closed.

For some reason that was the worst part of this for Lucius, this small abused boy… was Magical. The fat man came out the second the boy was done; he had obviously been watching him work, he again grabbed the boy by the arm, and then to Lucius' disbelief, threw the boy into a small cupboard under the stairs.

This had been when Lucius had awoken from his dream, disturbed by the images; he had tortured and killed a great many people in his time. However something about the cruelty he had seen truly bothered him, and the only conclusion he could come up with was that it bothered him because of the boy's obvious magic. Suddenly he sat upright and realized that the boy had still been looking at him at the end of the dream… somehow Lucius dreaded sleeping that night.

Striking Deals and Teasing Thoughts

The silver light fled more quickly this time. Lucius took a moment to orient himself, and quickly realized that he was back in the hallway where he had seen the young boy being tortured by the fat man. He looked around, trying to find the small boy who seemed to be the focus of his visions. He was quite startled when a quiet melodious voice came from behind him, "if you are looking for me, I am right here." Lucius spun gracefully and looked at the stairs where the small boy was looking directly at him.

Lucius could not help asking him "how can you see me?"

The boy gave a small, sad smile and whispered "we seem to be connected." His face was the picture of world weary innocence. Suddenly a look of calculation crossed his face quickly. "Will you make a deal with me?" asked the boy.

Lucius looked at him in minor amusement, "And precisely what could you offer me little one?" he asked, with an undertone of rich laughter.

The boy asked "if you could have anything in the world, what would you want?"

Lucius truly did laugh then. "I would wish that my lord was back, to help get our world back on track to where it belongs."

"Who is your lord?"

"My lord's name is Voldemort, young one."

The boy smiled at him, "if you will come and get me within the week, and help to release me from my bonds, I can tell you two very important pieces of information; I will tell you where your lord is right now and how he came to be there, I can also tell you how to get him back perfectly healthy and ready to rejoin you."

The blond man looked down at this boy, and couldn't believe his ears, after 6 years of discrete searching, a boy who couldn't be more than that same number of years was offering him the information that he had paid thousands for and gotten no results from. "How do I know that you really have this information?" he sneered down at the boy.

The brat just laughed at him "I, Chaostri, swear upon my magic, my life and my soul, that if this wizard in front of me rescues me and helps me to be freed from my bonds within one week, I will tell him the current location of Lord Voldemort, and how to return him to full health." As the last of these words left his mouth a bright light surrounded the boy.

Lucius' mouth fell open, well that answered that question. As the tall man continued to gaze at the boy, he came to an inner decision. "After I 'release' you from your bonds what will you do?"

The boy smirked at him, "I will help to release your lord of course, by finding the perfect sacrifice for the ritual that will bring him back. Look," the boy muttered. "I don't have much time left, is it a deal, or do I go to someone else, because this is a one time offer." Lucius smirked at him again and decided to give it a go, the worst thing that could happen is he would watch as an oath breaker died, and if it worked out he would have his lord back. With a simple nod he turned, and woke up.

Lucius thought back on these events, as he strode towards the park that he had seen the boy in. He was hardly surprised when he found the young one behind the same bush that he had recently seen

him hiding beneath. "Are you here to help me now, or will I have to wait longer?" Lucius could not help but be startled by these words; the boys back was to him when he spoke, after all.

"We could leave now, if you wish?" Lucius stated. The bo-Chaostri he reminded himself, gave him a huge smile of delight. "I am ready." Lucius took one more step forward, and snagging hold of the boy's shoulder (and becoming slightly distracted by the waist length fall of hair) he apparated the boy to his manor.

COV

Chaostri smiled when he landed in Malfoy's study, he had never actually been inside before. He knew before he started looking around that Lucius was impatiently waiting for him to give up his answers, but he continued mapping the place in his mind. Finally Lucius snapped "Well? I got you out, where are my answers?" He was glaring at the boy in front of him.

The boy simply smiled at him. "As soon as the second part of the agreement is completed, I will gladly give it over to you, but first you need to help release me from my bonds."

Lucius looked down at him, "I see no bonds and no ties, do you simply not have the information?"

The brat dared to laugh at him, "No, my friend, unfortunately my bonds are a little more serious than mere ties, or chains. You see, my magic has been blocked by a certain meddlesome old coot. However I know who can remove them and where we can get them removed, if you will just get me to Gringotts today, you should have your answers by tomorrow morning."

As he continued to stare up at the silent blonde haired man, Chaostri could not help but grin at the frustrated glare that was being directed at him. The other man sighed. "Very well, let's go." Harry couldn't help but allow his smile to grow even wider at this point. Things were looking up.

COV

As Lucius led the little brat down the hall towards the study that held his floo, he couldn't help but hear the brat murmur rather repetitiously. "Almost there, free soon, just a little more." He couldn't help but wonder what he was on about… but really what did it matter, just so long as he really got the information he wanted. Lucius glanced down at the small child who was walking beside him and wearing a rather maniacal grin upon his face, and noted with a start for the first time that his pupils were mere snake slits, and that they were the palest silver against the brightest green he had ever seen… staring at those eyes too long caused him a rather uncomfortable jolt in his lower stomach, which caused him to look away in discomfort. 'I am not attracted to children, but what the hell was that?!'

When they made it to the study Lucius looked on in amusement as the black and blue little boy started dancing in place, while simultaneously attempting to jump high enough to grab the container of floo powder from the mantel. Finally, having amused himself enough with this sight, he reached over and handed the little urn to the boy. "Do you need me to go with you, or would you rather go alone?" Lucius asked him, a smirk still lingering on his face.

"I think you should come," said the boy. "You certainly won't get another chance to see something like this again in this lifetime."

Lucius couldn't help but to look at the boy rather strangely at this point. "You don't think that I would be able to see a ceremony for unblocking magic whenever I wished?" he snorted out.

"Oh, no, that's not what I meant, but I doubt you will want to miss this all the same." With a giggle

the boy grabbed his floo powder and yelled "Gringotts Bank!" disappearing in an emerald flame.

Lucius sighed, 'well, it's not like I have anything else to do, might as well see what he thinks is so special.' And he followed after the boy.

When Lucius stepped through the floo into Gringotts' he was surprised to see that the boy was waiting for him, hiding slightly behind the side of the fireplace. What surprised him more was that the boy grabbed his sleeve and effectively dragged him over to stand in front of him. The blond man looked down at the boy questioningly, and, noticing that the boy wasn't even looking at him followed his slightly frightened gaze over to where it was fixed. Blink. On Dumbledore. He glanced back at the boy, who was now looking at him solemnly. "We have to wait until he leaves, after all he won't want to let the seals he placed on my powers to be released, and after all I'm a monster." The boy snarled bitterly.

Lucius raised a brow and simply stated "monster?"

The boy looked up and gave him a heartbreakingly sweet and world-weary smile. "You will see, it is why I said you should come, after all, I am the last of my kind." Lucius' gaze became more attentive, studiously looking over the features of the boy in front of him, trying to locate features that would pinpoint what this boy was. After several minutes of observation he was no closer to identifying the boy, but did notice when the tension left him. He looked towards the entrance of Gringotts just in time to see the last of Dumbledore's vivid fuschia robes swirl out behind him as he left. He then simply followed the boy towards the podium at the front of the floor.

"Chaostri, the betrayed to seek council of guild elder Ashsalt." The boy said in a clear voice, standing straight with poise that even matched that of himself. Lucius glanced at the goblin to see his expression change swiftly from sneering boredom to shocked awe, and then as if pulling on a mask back to the sneer.

Lucius was starting to feel as if he was missing something significant, as he watched the goblin leave his seat and bow low to the tiny boy in front of him. "My lord, we thought that you wouldn't be able to arrive for years yet."

The boy smiled, "it is thanks to Lord Malfoy here that I was able to escape at all." He said, then changing the subject. "Is all prepared for the unbinding?"

The goblin smirked, "Oh yes, if you will follow me…err, my lord?" the goblin looked a little nervous, "will he be watching as well?"

The boy smiled warmly at the nervous looking goblin. "He did set me free after all; I feel he has earned the right to see me as I am. Besides, he is one of mine own."

The goblin glanced in shock at Lucius, taking in his confusion, and suddenly an enlightened look entered his eyes. "And the other, my lord?"

A dark, haunted look crossed the boy's face. "He is still trapped by the old one; he will be the next to be set free after this. I have already decided upon the sacrifice; can you arrange for this individual to be here in a month's time, without anyone knowing?" he asked, while handing a scrap of paper to the goblin.

The goblin looked at it and smirked, "oh yes, we will have this one here easily in that time frame." At this point another goblin came hurrying up to them looking flushed and delighted. "My lord, if

you will follow me, we can have you back to yourself in about 2 hours."

The boy smiled with a joyful look upon his face, "and with another 8 hours of sleep after that, I can be totally free again."

At this point Lucius was lost, the boy needed him to rescue him, but had an agreement with the goblins. Was arranging for a sacrifice of somebody, and had claimed that Lucius was one of his own. However Lucius had met the boy in person only about an hour before. However this was not the most confusing part of this equation… why were the goblins showing him such deference. He, Lucius, wasn't even shown a fraction of this deference, and he was a Lord of an ancient and noble house! Looking around Lucius realized that he had lost track of the conversation, as all the participants were several feet away, clearly waiting for him to catch up with them. Gathering himself together Lucius gripped his cane and followed the ambiguous boy towards the back rooms of Gringotts. As he continued towards the boy, he suddenly came to the realization that the bank was eerily silent behind him. Feeling a slight chill running up his spine he looked behind him to see armed goblins ushering the crowds out of the bank forcefully.

Lucius couldn't help but wonder exactly what he had gotten himself into, and if it would be worth it in the end.

Dark Rituals and Power Gaps

Ashsalt looked in wonder at the boy who was slightly smaller than him… he hadn't believed that it was possible for something like this to happen in his lifetime. Chaos beasts were extremely rare; every magical being in the world owed their reverence and aid to one that crossed their paths. It was rare that a chaos beast chose to mingle with its magical brethren, and rarer still for it to ask for aid. A cb was amongst the most powerful creature in existence. As such it was nearly impossible to cause one any serious issues.

While he was waiting for the boy to look at him, he had a sudden, unnerving thought. "My Lord?" he quietly questioned. The boy looked at him. "?" "Have you considered the fact that you will be hungry after this?"

Chaostri froze. "Shit!"

Lucius glanced over at the boy when he heard the exclamation, frowning in disapproval. Something about the worried expressions on the faces of the goblins surrounding the youth intrigued him, so he slowed his pace and kept to the shadows. He wanted to hear what was causing such difficulty and worry for this little group.

"Alright, we need to find a blood donor… on second thought we had better make it two. I don't know what we can do about the lust, feeding that will be difficult… suggestions anyone?" Lucius was a bit surprised; this was a set of thought processes that he would never have expected to overhear. This child… no, perhaps this 'being' was more accurate, was going to need to feed sexual hungers? Blood hunger he might have expected, after all there were known cases of families binding those of vampiric descent, but there was little that suggested that the boy might be an incubus.

Something started to niggle in the back of his mind, but he couldn't quite think of what it was that was bothering him about all of this. Finally as he listened to them quibbling about the fact that the boy needed to feed on sex, and that not just anybody would do he grew tired of it, hell he'd volunteer if they would just get this over with!

Silence fell and Lucius realized that all the attention was on him. He was wondering why that was when they suddenly turned their gazes to the boy, who said "if you are sure that you would not mind then I would gladly accept your offer." Lucius froze, realizing that his thought had been spoken out loud. Then he sighed at the boy and simply nodded.

The goblins nodded respectfully to Lucius then turned their heads toward the boy again. "My lord, there is the matter of who you would have as the donors, you know that they will not survive, and that they must have some significance to you; the question is who do we fetch?"

Chaostri was silent and then some inner struggle was resolved in his mind. "We should fetch petunia, Dudley and Vernon Dursley; though the two adults shall be needed for a small ritual beforehand. Also a squib on that street by the name of Arabella Figg should be obliviated of all that has transpired the last day or so."

The goblins nodded then another spoke up again. "My lord, there is the matter of your witness; there is a need for one to be found. Preferably a non-human, to balance the human you have already chosen."

The boy nodded and looked about. "Does anyone here know how to contact the Valar?" he asked.

A goblin in the back paled and stepped forward. "I do my lord." He all but whispered the words; Lucius wondered who these Valar were to cause such fear in the warlike goblins.

Chaostri smiled understandingly at him; "please contact them and tell them that the fallen chaos summons a witness to stand for him." The goblins; to Lucius' confusion, looked at the boy in deepest respect, they were looking at the boy like he was a god.

An hour later, a being that shone with light walked through the door and bowed to the small boy, who smiled at her warmly. "Faelwen, my old friend; thank you for joining me in this realm for my awakening. I know what must be done for this will make you uncomfortable, is there anything that I can do to make this easier for you?" the woman looked at Chaostri gravely and spoke to him in a language that was beautiful to the ears; and complete gibberish to Lucius. The boy nodded solemnly and replied in English; "I have kept my promise, the only ones who will be drained will be the humans who wronged me." An agreement was obviously formed between their eyes, and they turned to the goblins. "Well, shall we get started?" the boy rushed. The goblins just smiled at him and nodded.

Four hours later, Lucius lay in the bed the goblins had provided him and Chaostri. He felt exhausted; when the spell had broken from the boy- no, he corrected himself; man, he had gone straight for the humans and drained them of their blood in a frenzy; though he had still somehow managed to do so in a respectful manner. When the last of them had been drained he had started glowing and then his form had started to change. The tiny boy had grown into a gorgeous young man; he was 5'4", his eyes glowed green in his golden face, and his scars glowed a silver that was eye catching; his lips were a petal pink rarely seen upon humans. His ears grew to be pointed like the light woman who had stood for him. His hair grew rapidly until it was at the small of his back and it was shiny, it seemed to both swallow and reflect the light. He was beautiful. Then he had looked at the goblins and they had hurried Lucius and Chaostri into the chamber that they were currently lying in. The rest of the night was a blur for Lucius, though he knew that the pleasure had been great, he had discovered that Chaostri apparently had no gag-reflex; Lucius was still grinning at this memory as he was sucked into oblivion.

Harry watched with amusement as Lucius fell asleep with a grin on his face. He felt far clearer now that he had fed, and though he was tired, he knew that the goblins were waiting on him. He mused on the strange nature of chaos beasts; they needed blood and sex when they opened new powers, but only the first time they do so, however after that they can use sex and blood as a fuel source; it was helpful in climates where normal food was scarce. He quickly got out of the bed and summoned from his chest his chaos robe. Donning it he left the chamber and went to speak to the goblins.

"Ashsalt, Griphook, I need to speak to Ragnarok, I need to start working on alliances with the vampires and the werewolves, I also need to get into contact with the Veela and the centaurs. Also, do you know any house-elves seeking masters?" he said all of this without taking a breath, and the goblins found themselves amused.

Griphook was the one that answered. "Milord, before we speak with them we need you to see how many symbiotes you will have."

Harry paused and then smiled softly, "I had forgotten that I would have the option." He looked at them "I will not take the test." The goblins looked horrified but before they could say anything he continued. "Take me to the saving field, I will allow my magic to call those that will be mine." The goblins looked at each other and Ashsalt nodded. The three made quick time to the saving field.

Long ago, magical creatures that were going extinct saw that they were losing their channels into

magic, which was what was causing their decline, they formed a council and came to an agreement; they took the last of their eggs and approached the goblins. Their offspring needed a host, in return for the use of the magic of the host, they would offer their loyalty. The goblins agreed to become the holders of the saving ground… not one human in the fifteen thousand years since then had been chosen as a symbiote.

Harry looked out upon the field of eggs, they were as far as he could see; he had not been able to have this chance last time around. Dumbledore had destroyed the field when he had realized that Harry had escaped his clutches. Now as he looked across the field, he smiled softly. Somehow his instincts were telling him what to do; he took a deep breath and allowed his magic to grow about him.

As he gathered it he was unaware that he glowed; surrounded by an emerald green sphere the color of his eyes, surrounded in a silver net that made him appear as some human caught in a giant's jewelry. Finally reaching what he felt to be enough power, he released it across the entirety of the field, and around him eggs began to glow, and then to float around him. There were five. The goblins were shocked; the eggs chose their masters for both power and personality; they had to in order to survive, for this one being to have the power to support five eggs was something never seen before. The goblins had watched vampires and Veela gloat over the power to house just one… this was amazing.

Odd Children and Magics Bonds

As they watched the five eggs circling the man, they noticed that in the way they were circling him there was space for three other eggs. As they watched the gaps were filled by small blurs that appeared from nowhere. The goblins watched as the EIGHT eggs were sucked into the body of this powerful man. Unknown to the chaos beast and the two goblins, the entirety of the Valar were watching these developments in happy awe. As the eggs found their places on his body, parts of him began to change and an enraptured expression was all they could see of his face as tattoos representing the beings that had chosen him appeared upon his flesh. The Valar smiled and gave him a gift; one that would only come into play if he lost all hope; they knew that he would never be of their realm… but they knew that he would have need.

Harry watched as the eggs swirled around his body; they were beautiful in his eyes. There were five he noted; the first was a silver-blue egg that glowed softly, a pearl shaped dark blue mark upon the center of the egg. The next he saw was a solid black egg that was more lustrous than any ravens wings in seemed to have light rippling around it like it was playing. A third was blood-ruby red, with four stripes around it, there was one that was a shadowy grey, one was a rich deep purple, one ice blue and another was silver. As he looked at this egg, he instinctively understood that the silver was for mental prowess, the pale blue for ice, the purple for elements, and the gray for the shadows. The next egg was purple at the top it was amethyst an the further down it went the darker it became, ending in a dark bruise like color, the fifth egg was a silver-green tinted opalescent shell, looking at it made him feel happy and soft inside.

As he was watching the eggs circle him, he suddenly saw three others streak towards him, they were so fast that even with his very advanced sight he could not make them out; suddenly all eight eggs sunk into his flesh. The silver green swirled behind him and sank between his shoulder blades. As it did so he felt a consciousness stir and touch his mind. Opening to it he heard 'I have waited a very long time to find the keeper of my powers, I do not wish to stay in this time, so to you I pass my powers; the powers of an angel; do with them as you will, I am moving to the next incarnation.' Harry kept the bond with this angel until he felt a sublime joy and peacefulness slide through him and then the presence cut off.

The next egg that entered his body was the amethyst one, it dug itself into his left shoulder, a flame appeared there, black and purple, looking strangely like a bruise. This time he was already open to the presence. 'I too wish to pass on my power, my mate has already crossed over, I would die soon after I hatched.' He sent his agreement to the being that he somehow knew was a Daeva. He felt this one too pass.

The third was the silver blue egg; it chose its placement just below the hollow of his throat. As it sank in it left a pearl within his flesh, and it too passed its powers to the man… and chose to pass on. Harry felt a great horror within his heart, a Naga, a Daeva and an angel had all fused with him and then chosen death; was he such a monster that no creature could stand to exist with him?

The last two eggs that he had identified simultaneously leapt forward at these emotions and sank into him, the four striped egg sitting in the center of his pelvis bones in the form of black wings that spread up the sides of his hips, curving around the bottom of his belly. The last egg chose his right shoulder, leaving a tattoo of a small circle of night sky complete with silver stars that twinkled. "We choose to stay with our master." They both said, seeking to alleviate his pain.

The first said "I am a Zephyrcat, I choose to become your companion, and I share with you my mind my powers and my abilities. May our joining be long and joyful." Here the second stepped in

"I am a demon of the night, I choose to become yours, and I share with you my mind my powers and my abilities. May our joining be long and prosperous." Harry gave a faint smile; it swiftly became joy as the three of theirs' minds joined, he could feel two links that would allow them to speak to one another.

Three other eggs that he could not identify started circling one another and flew to his belly button. They appeared to be three petals of a gardenia around his belly button each beautifully depicted. The three eggs sent a sensation to him that basically said they were not yet ready to hatch and complete the ritual… but they loved him and would stay with him. As they connected with the amber that had become a part of him, Harry's smile lit the room with its beauty.

The goblins watched awestruck as they saw the changes in the beautiful boy, he had nearly invisible wings, they were prisms, you could literally see through them; and they were definitely functional. His hair was flowing softly; it was wrapped lovingly in shadows. And the air around the boy was beautifully clean; drawing a breath around the man was like breathing in light and magic at once. Not much else about him changed but the goblins were fascinated by his beauty.

As they watched he tensed for a moment every muscle in his body; claws slid out of his fingers and a cat's tail with four stripes showed at the base of his spine. The man relaxed and everything save the tattoos disappeared, leaving him looking like a relatively normal elf male. As they watched he took control of his power and appeared human again. He opened his glowingly green eyes and smiled softly at the goblins. They smiled back sharp fangs showing in a true show of joy.

"I must return to Lucius," he murmured to them they nodded and lead him back to the chamber. He crawled into bed and curled up next to Lucius, quickly falling asleep; never realizing that Lucius had awoken when he reappeared, he was now silently and warily watching the man sleep.

That night he had a dream of a world that he had never seen before. As he observed it, a silver light lit up the sky and then all was still; as he took a moment to absorb this he felt a large number of presences at his back, when he turned to look he saw a little girl who held a small pouch.

He looked at her curiously and tilted his head in silent question. She smiled at him knowingly and held the pouch out to him as he looked at it curiously the girl spoke in a voice like chimes. "I offer you a choice, these need protection, they all love you, but it is not their time to be. Will you give them protection until they can greet you?"

Harry looked at her and realized that she meant they were not yet ready to be born… he nodded, children had a right to protection… even children as dangerous as he sensed these would be. He made no noise, though his body arched in a rictus of agony as the pouch flew apart and tiny eggs flew from it and into his body. They left a pattern of a small snake coiled around the base of his ankle… and if you looked close enough you could tell that it was made of tiny dots. Each was an egg; the goblins never told a soul that that night the entire saving field disappeared.

A new form of bond was created that night; one that had even magic draw in her breath at its beauty.

Sudden Shocks and Painful Choices

The next morning Ragnarok joined Lucius and Harry at a large breakfast table the goblins had provided. He offered his greetings first to Harry then Lucius. Lucius was impatient about this, he was waiting to get the boy alone and figure out what was going on; both with the boy and with his lord. But he held his tongue; he could gain interesting knowledge from these two. "Good morning my lord, lord Malfoy; we thank you for coming to us when you were in need of aid." The elderly goblin sat more deeply in his seat and took a deep breath before continuing. "My lord, I would like to congratulate you on your eight children."

Harry smiled at him; a strange combination of joy and sorrow that at first Lucius did not understand. "My thanks for your congratulations, but three of my young have chosen to pass to the other side; two had lost their mates, and the third was called to the cycle's dance."

Lucius was shocked to see tears fall from the old goblins eyes. "If I am not imposing, could you tell me which three passed on?"

The young man nodded dejectedly "Naga, Daeva, Angel Parasitus." The goblin looked even more sorrowful at that.

Finally Ragnarok took a deep breath and moved on. "You wished to speak to me about alliances I heard… how can I assist you my lord?" Harry smiled and stated to the goblin that they would need alliances with the Veela, werewolves, vampires and centaurs. They would need to speak to the mer- folk and would need to set free the dryads and nymphs. Ragnarok's eyes lit up in a joyful manner. "My Lord, after discovering your freedom yesterday, I thought that you may wish to do this so I already have spoken to the leaders of each sect; I have a list of things that they want if they are to give you their allegiance; of course we all know they would stand with you anyways, but they felt it only fair that you should be aware of things that they need. Since I have looked over their demands, I have done a little calculation as to what we would need to spend to get them what they want. After much calculation by our top accountants, we have discovered that you could not only provide them with what they want but also create a profit if you were willing to start up a corporation that specializes in certain areas. At least the material things that they want you could provide them with that way, the rest will have to happen once you have fulfilled your goal and can change the laws."

Here Harry nodded and looked thoughtful before responding. "Go ahead and start that business; you can get the funds for this particular project from the main Potter vault, make sure that you choose only the most trustworthy personnel, see if you can't get a few of each individual tribe to work there, we can get them started on teamwork that way." Ragnarok was nodding in delight and smiling at Harry's answers. Lucius however was silently choking and praying that he had misheard what had come from the man he had slept with mouth.

"Oh, my god, please tell me I didn't sleep with Harry Potter. My master will believe that I betrayed him. How would he react if he finds out…? I have to wait until he gives me the information he offered, thank Merlin he gave a wizards oath to give it to me." Was running through his mind. He was suddenly feeling uncomfortable. "Well, I at least know now that I can tell my master that the magical creatures will side with potter in the war; we will have to take precautionary measures against them; now if I can just find out something about the powers he has so we can neutralize them-" here his thoughts were cut off as Ragnarok asked something that caught his attention.

"My Lord, now that you are released from the binds that Dumbledore set upon you, you know that you have complete control of your vaults. However, I am wondering when you will do the ritual to

accept the five that you have currently not claimed?"

Harry was smiling sadly, Lucius noticed, and simply shook his head, "only three of those vaults actually belong to me you know, once I help Lucius here restore lord Voldemort, and get rid of the traitor in his ranks I shall bring him to claim the two vaults he is unaware of and I shall claim the three that belong to me." Lucius felt like his brain was going to explode; Harry potter seemed to be on his side, he was talking amiably about his lord and spoke of bringing him knowledge he did not contain.

Harry was watching Lucius out of the corner of his eye, knowing that Ragnarok was carefully doing the same as he purposefully dropped the Potter name. Knowing that Lucius would make the connection and hoping that he wouldn't make any rash decisions. Harry had every intention of bringing lord Voldemort back into his own body, after all what good was it to have a mate that literally couldn't touch you? After several minutes of conversation he saw Lucius accept the information and settle down.

Seeing that as a sign, Harry turned to him. "As I am sure you are by now aware, I am Harry Potter; what I believe you to be unaware of is that your lord, when trying to kill me, was doing so under the influence of false information fed to him by a spy under Dumbledore's orders. He was then given my location by another of his spies, a Peter Pettigrew. He was told that a prophecy involving the two of us was given… stating that I would grow to kill him. It was a false prophecy given by a fraud under orders of the old man. He wanted me out of the way; after all a chaos beast is meant to bring equality to all of magic's creatures."

Lucius was obviously pondering this. "I promised you two pieces of information for your aid; it is time that I gave them to you. First you wanted to know where your lord is, he is currently in a forest in Albania. You also wished to know how to bring him back in full power, this one is both hard and simple. You were given a diary by Voldemort some seven years ago now, you simply choose someone and convince them to write in the diary, though be careful of your choice, that beings life will be forfeit as the price of your lord's resurrection."

Lucius at this point was mentally going over every person he knew; quickly he stopped and turned towards Harry. "You said that there was another traitor besides Pettigrew, who is that?"

Harry laughed. "That was none other than our own beloved Severus Snape, Potions Master. He is the man who I have the goblins bringing in." his attention turned. "How long will that take, by the way?"

Ragnarok grinned a devious smile that showed every pointed tooth in his mouth. "Two hours."

Harry laughed, "You used the 'a potions master died and left you his works, hoping to keep them out of the grasping hands of his apprentice' gambit didn't you?"

Ragnarok put on an expression that Lucius could only call a pout. "Well; it works." He harrumphed at them. Even Lucius could not help but smile at this, though he quickly lost his smile when Harry turned to him with a sad and grave expression.

"Lucius, I know that you care for Severus Snape, I also know that you love your lord; so I know what is about to happen will hurt you; Snape is the traitor. And he is the one I have chosen to resurrect your lord." Lucius' face went even paler, if possible.

"Are you sure?" the boy turned his bright green eyes up to Lucius'

"Yes"

Lucius looked away. "Very well" was all he said; it came out in a dead voice that screamed pain to anyone who has ever experienced it. Harry turned away and sighed. He turned back to Ragnarok and started to put together the plans for his new company. They were signing the final paperwork by the time Severus showed up at Gringotts. He was subdued within seconds of entering the back room they had reserved for this.

Pulling Together and Hidden Sides

It took them one month with Severus under imperius to bring Voldemort back to his physical self. Lucius cried that night, both in happiness and sorrow. His lord was back but he did not know his friend and lover; in fact he didn't remember a lot of things; Lucius was so caught up in his emotions that he left the explanations to Harry.

Harry told him about his years as a dark lord, his followers the death eaters, his horcruxes and his familiar Nagini. The last thing he told him about was that his other soul piece was in Albania carrying his up to date memories. About ten minutes later (after recovering from his shock) he was ordering Harry to take him there. Harry obeyed; He burst out laughing when they landed from his apparition.

Apparently Tom wasn't expecting an instantaneous trans-continental apparition. "How did you do that? What was the spell?" Tom gushed.

Harry smiled up at the taller male. "It was a simple apparition." This seemed to excite Tom more than the thought of a new spell.

"How did you do it? Is it just a matter of power? Perhaps a mental exercise of some sort?" here Harry burst out into chuckles.

"Tom, I am not human, no matter how human I may appear; so I have some abilities that no normal wizard could ever hope to gain."

Tom looked at him calculatingly then nodded. "You are one of my followers aren't you?"

Harry looked at him steadily; seeming to pierce him with his blazingly green eyes. "No, I am not, what I am, is a potential ally." Tom was still appraising as he looked over the smaller male; finally making a decision in his head he nodded shortly and turned away.

"So how do we get me back together again?" he asked simply. Harry grinned boyishly and gestured with his hand. A large snake flew from the direction of the center of the forest. Nagini was shocked and started to hiss about upstarts that would pay when she was sidetracked by Tom.

"Master?" she hissed confusedly. "You have a body again?" Tom told her about the diary and she happily led them to the spirit form of her master hissing happily about how overjoyed he would be.

Tom Riddle walked behind the large snake that Harry had informed him was his familiar. He was staring covertly at Harry though; he knew that Harry had left something out of his explanations. He also knew that what he had been told was truthful… Lucius obviously cared for him in some way, and was beautiful. He could see why he took the man as his partner… and that was before he factored in that the man was rich influential and charismatic.

He quickly turned his attention back to the boy in front of him; trying to figure out what he was. After a moment he had to admit that he didn't have a clue, he appeared totally human. His attention was brought back to their journey when Harry suddenly stopped in front of a bluff. He turned to Tom. "You should go alone from here, when you have assimilated yourself come back and I will take us back to Lucius' place" here he paused and tossed Tom Voldemort's wand. "If you have any trouble or need me shoot up gold sparks." Tom looked at him again and nodded; he turned around and walked towards the bluff. He was interrupted by Harry and turned back. "And Tom… good luck." With a nod he headed off to regain himself.

It was a long wait for Harry; as he waited for the man to return he relived some of his memories. He relived when he first heard the name Voldemort, when he had first faced him at age eleven, the snake at twelve. He remembered finding out that his friends were really spies for Dumbledore. He remembered finding out that their parents were too.

Harry, looking back at his memories, found that there were only two untainted memories in his entire lifetime. The first was when he had found out that Luna and Draco were still his friends and allies. And the second was when he had managed to go to their wedding in disguise… they hadn't known he was there (shape morphing) but he had been so happy to see them bonded to each other. As he sat in the tree line he realized something else. He knew that Voldemort was one of his mates, but how would he convince the man to accept him.

Harry couldn't see any real reason for anyone to want him aside from his power… and he knew that that sort of bond would leave him even more broken than he was currently. Harry also knew that his second mate would not accept him; in the last lifetime they had been on the same side and he still hadn't thought Harry to be good mate material…

He remembered being laughed at when he had asked for a chance to woo him. His brown eyes had laughed at him as he released his mirth. The way he had realized that Harry wasn't joking and had sat him down and said "Harry, you are a great friend and I am sure there is someone out there for you, but I am already in love with someone else; I proposed to her just last week. I was going to tell you today in fact. I'm getting married to Ginevra Weasley. So I am sorry, but I cannot accept you."

Neville had walked away, still chuckling every few minutes. And Harry had felt his heart shatter as the thread of their possibility was severed. At the time he had not known that Neville was his mate, only that he cared for him deeply. He had disappeared for a week after this revelation, he had been found just days before the final battle, Neville had died there; at Harry's wand… he had been under Imperius and had attacked him.

After that Harry had had to admit something that he had tried desperately to deny for years. Nobody could love Harry Potter; they could crave his power, enjoy his humor or torment, but he wasn't worthy of even the friendship types of love.

He was brought out of his memories and despair by a movement from the bluff; raising his head he saw Voldemort striding toward him. Harry gave him a weak smile. "You are looking good, did I miss anything interesting?"

Voldemort gave the young man in front of him a measuring stare. "Nothing very interesting. I retrieved myself and am now in one piece; though I would like to know how this came about; the largest bit of this I understand is that I just rejoined with the diary portion of my self and you can Apparate across continents and oceans without breathing heavily. And of course that you are not human."

Harry gave the beautiful man in front of him a tired smile. "I am Lord Chaostri, Lord of Life born into this world as Harry Potter." Here he stopped tiredly and used his magic to simply create a dome of magic around himself that ate the curses being sent at him by Voldemort. He sighed as he continued. "The first thing that you need to be aware of is that the reason you tried to kill me is defunct."

He was happy to see that Voldemort stopped throwing hexes at him, but wished that it didn't look like he was just plotting new ways to get through the bubble shield. "Tom, please, Lucius wouldn't have let me take off with you if I was a threat."

Here Voldemort paused and then sneered; "how do you know that name?"

Harry simply sighed and simply dropped his shields. "I know all about you, unfortunately when you cast that killing curse at me I was given a rather impressive set of your pre- Hogwarts years. Look, if you want to kill me go ahead; at this point I don't particularly care. I fulfilled my destiny here; and I know that things aren't quite comfortable with me around." Harry simply flopped himself to his side and stared up at the clouds.

He was tired…. Tired of fighting in a world that didn't want him; tired of fighting for a people who were unworthy and mostly tired of hoping for someone who could love him. He knew that if he were to convince Voldemort to love him it would be a waged, uphill battle. Plus, the likelihood of him winning against Lucius was ludicrous. He started laughing.

Voldemort watched the man in front of him carefully when he dropped his shield. He was staring at the sky with what he had to admit were beautiful eyes, it took him a moment to realize that not all of that brightness was natural; the man was crying without sound or shame. But for all of that he truly seemed to have meant that he was ok with Voldemort killing him. Voldemort had a sudden remembrance of what the man had said when he had brought his young counterpart to him about being a potential ally. "What did you mean about being a potential ally?" he was surprised by the beauty of the smile on the young mans face when he asked that question.

"I offer alliance Lord Voldemort; that my forces would join with yours for your aid in granting them what they need and deserve at the end of this war. I can provide for them during this war, but there are two issues. I need someone to care for my needs, and there is a high likelihood that in this war I will die early on; I would need someone to care for their needs like they were their children, though allow them to make their own decisions." Voldemort looked at him; the man was wearing black robes and lying in the grass, he was obviously tired and he gave off a gentle wave of despair as he lay perfectly still. He hardly seemed the sort to have any kind of alliance with anybody.

"Who and what do you offer in alliance?" the boy looked at him tiredly and then stood up quickly; completely disregarding the wand that was being held on him.

"We need to go; Lucius will be getting worried, and if you are with him it will be easier to get rid of my body." With a simple step forward he offered his arm and Voldemort instinctively grabbed it. Within a moment he discovered how right the boy was. Lucius came in and gave them a hug simultaneously before demanding to know where they had been. Swept up in memories Voldemort smiled at his lover; not noticing the wistful expression that crossed Harry's face.

Lucius turned towards Harry and raised a brow. "Well?" Harry gave him another of those earth shaking world-weary smiles.

"Do not become too attached to my existence, my friend. Even if he chooses to accept my alliance, I have been rejected already by my first mate; the second is even more likely to do so than the first was. I doubt that I will survive to see the middle of this war much less the end."

Lucius looked at him worriedly. "If you die what will the goblins do? Will they be able to hold the alliances between my lord and the centaurs, unicorns, Veela and the vampires?" he pretended to worry only about the alliance but was truly worried about the boy in front of him.

Harry smiled at him sweetly, forgetting about Tom, who was watching them carefully gathering all the information that he could. "Yes; I will make sure that it is known to be my last wish, they will hold sure on the matter. The werewolves though, we only got half of them; the others deny my existence… did you know Lucius that my kind are only legends."

Here Lucius looked at Harry with sad eyes and chuckled softly. "Though I maintain that you should approach your mate, you know don't you Harry, that if there are no issues with my lord I

will offer myself to help you until you make that last journey?" Harry gave him a soft smile, sliding down o the couch he was lying on.

"My thanks my friend, but you have a beloved who is right there for you; I will not ruin such a beautiful thing for someone who has what I have always wanted." He slid off into the arms of Morpheus then. Lucius looked ready to weep, and forgetting about his lord reached forward and gently swept Harry's hair out of his face.

"The last of your kind; gentlest of them all and you were rejected? I don't think that I can understand how you continue." He turned to see his lords appraising eyes upon him and did something that he would deny he did even under the Cruciatus… he blushed.

Hopeful Dreams and Hasty Words

Tom Riddle was in shock; it was the only explanation that made any sense to him. Here he was, in the house of his lover and devoted follower, watching him coo over the boy that had been responsible for his 'death'.

That would have been enough to put most in shock but Tom was stronger that that; no, it was the fact that Lucius had dragged him out of the study and into the main Malfoy library only to set him down with a book that he had never seen before.

During the month that Harry had stayed with Lucius; he had offered Lucius insight into nearly every facet of himself bar the time travel and his companions. Lucius had found himself falling under the spell of the chaos beast. At one point while they were both drunk, Lucius had convinced Harry to give him a pensieve view of some of his worst memories.

Harry had been just sober enough to only give him the Dursleys memories. After that he had noticed that he had a strange tendency to mother Harry. He had mapped out every scar on the boys body and they had been lovers pretty regularly. He loved his lord dearly; but he truly cared for this boy as well.

During that time he had come to the conclusion that he needed to find a way to make his lord understand about Harry. The boy was carrying hurts under that exterior that could kill any ten men they were shared amongst. He had called upon Aurelia Zabini at one point to come in and give Harry a medical scan; they had started a medical file that would stay here at Malfoy manor. They had looked at what amounts to an x-ray of Harry's entire body and realized that most of the bones in his body needed replacement.

They had done it that night. Now something that you need to understand is that regrowing one bone is excruciating, but for every additional bone that is needed to be regrown at once the pain magnifies itself exponentially. They regrew thirty-eight bones that night… the boy never made a sound of pain and smiled at them every time they came to visit him. This may not seem so weird until you understand that Harry had no painkillers; it would have interfered with the healing.

Lucius decided that the first step to convincing his lord was to show him what an asset the boy could be. The book that Harry had shown him in his mind he had found a copy of. He had forced his lord to read the pertinent parts.

Chaos Beast: a being that is created by magic to protect the world, each has between 2 and 6 mates, in theory there could be more, but 6 is the largest quantity recorded. Known to have many traits of magical creatures, voice of the siren, hunger of the incubus/succubus, blood hunger of the vampire, shape-shifting, and dream walking there are believed to be other powers that are individual to each being.

Their eyes are generally of strongly unusual colors. Hair can be any color, but generally will not grow until maturity. These creatures have extraordinarily long lives, in fact one has never died of natural causes; their body has a peculiar healing mechanism, in general they will heal in a way similar to humans until they are severely wounded, in which case their body tends to go into a coma and heal everything at an amazingly rapid pace. These are rare and amazingly powerful creatures, and the only time of real weakness is in infancy; beware readers… should you cross a chaos beast, there is no place in any realm that will grant you sanctuary, for these are truly magic's most beloved children.

Tom watched somewhat amusedly as his lover tried to convince him to keep the boy Harry alive; he found it so amusing that he didn't bother to tell him that he had decided to keep the boy; if he could really offer the allies that Lucius had discussed then he was an asset; but he had to admit that the information that Lucius was giving him on the boy made him feel odd about him.

Tom couldn't quite understand why Harry was here offering him the alliance that he was; after all he had killed his parents, and given tried to kill him… there was something off in the way that the boy comported himself… he was trying to arrange for peace treaties for the magical creatures, and seemed to have no problems with dying before he had arranged it.

Tom turned his amused gaze back to Lucius, making a silent decision to keep an eye on this Harry potter. As he read all of the information he could find on chaos beasts he listened to everything that Lucius told him about Harry. As he listened he felt Lucius' fondness of the boy gather within him… if Lucius cared about this so much he would have to try to care as well… he would never know exactly how important that was.

Harry woke up rapidly; he knew that he had some business to arrange today; the goblins had two weeks before started gathering al of the materials he needed for a very special project. Out of his 2,000 years he had gathered information on the muggles. And he had come up with a plan to create what was in effect a long lasting EMP… only after a hundred years passed would machines be able to work again.

He would be using himself to fuel the spell; there was a very slight chance of him surviving it. Almost as slight as the one of him surviving the war long enough to set it off. He had backup plans in place with the goblins. He had kept track of the muggle financial fields while moving through time, and had given that information to the goblins. If he died before he fulfilled his destiny, he knew they would finish this for him. Within the first seven months the three became lovers, though they never spoke of love nor of permanence… and though they asked often, Harry never spoke of who his mate truly was.

Seven years into the war Harry was captured by Dumbledore… he later was ruefully heard telling his lovers Lucius and Voldemort that the light's torture was worse than anything Voldemort had yet to come up with; Voldemort was seen sulking for the next month much to his lovers' amusement.

Harry spent the next ten years with Voldemort; only once they had defeated Dumbledore did Harry tell him that Voldemort was his second mate… unfortunately he had chosen a bad time to do so. Unbeknownst to Harry, who had been gone the last year; Lucius was ill. It was a wizarding disease that had no cure; Voldemort did not believe Harry was serious since he had not said anything to even hint at the permanence of this matter earlier.

He thought that Harry was just trying to distract him from Lucius' illness, he did not think He simply responded; and he did so quite harshly, he screamed at the boy who had barely aged at all, he appeared to be between 14 and fifteen while at the same time appearing ageless.

He made it quite clear that he was not interested in Harry in that fashion, he continued on to say that Harry had no right to joke at such a time… but Harry did not hear. Harry's heart felt like it stopped beating in his heart at the words coming from the lips of his beloved. He had always known of course that he was not worthy of a mate of his own. Neville had been the one who was most likely to accept him… but he had not realized how badly the pain of a second rejection would hurt him.

He had not heard much of the words from Voldemort's mouth after that point. However when he ranted about waiting until Lucius was dying to dare to do something like this, Harry walked away

from Voldemort. He walked across the house to the room that he knew was Lucius'. He paused before the door, a tear slipping down his cheek; it was becoming difficult to breathe… forcing in a breath, he slipped in the door; for the first time in weeks Lucius was alone, the doctors had finally left him to rest.

He was quietly coming to terms with the fact that he was dying when he heard a rustle next to his bed. He looked up and saw Harry looking at him with eyes that were so full of pain that Lucius knew something had gone wrong. "What is wrong, Harry?" he questioned urgently.

Harry simply gave him a broken yet beautiful smile. "I have come to give you a final gift, my friend." He whispered as he held out his hand over Lucius' stomach; the sheets and blanket moved away from his hand as it started to glow a sickly green.

This is the scene that Voldemort walked in on. Upon seeing it he was frozen; horrified in the darkness. Watching that glowing green hand descend upon his beloved, at the will of the man he had just rejected. Voldemort felt a horror in his chest… was Harry killing Lucius to spite him?

As Voldemort and Lucius looked at Harry they watched as three bright glowingly beautiful sparks flew from his stomach up to his arm and then down to the hand that hovered over Lucius. The three sparks flowed into Lucius and he felt a power he had never felt before and as he felt his body heal; he knew that something was horribly wrong, this was something that was not meant to happen.

After a moment Lucius came back to himself, Voldemort was still incapable of movement in the shadows. Harry was clinging to the side of the bed weakly, and as Lucius looked upon him he noticed that Harry was growing even paler than he normally was; then he fell to the ground, Lucius was immediately out of the bed by his side, holding up his head.

"Harry, what is wrong with you? What did you do?" he urgently pleaded with the boy. He received a heart-stopping sweet smile, weak though it was.

"Do you remember my friend, when I told you not to grow too attached to my existence?" he received a nod. "I finally took your advice… I approached my second mate; my second chance."

Lucius suddenly understood horrified. "He rejected you!?" he received a weak nod.

"I… always knew he would… but I hoped that… the three of us could be happy together." Here the green eyes turned up to him. "Be happy, Lucius, keep your mate and be happy as I was unworthy to be."

Voldemort had heard all of this; and he suddenly realized what it all meant. Harry had been serious; he hadn't been trying to distract him from Lucius' illness. He had rejected a chaos beast; his lover… harshly and without thought.

Harry was dying; at this thought he rushed forward… what most do not know about chaos beasts is that each mate is only given one chance to accept the suite of such a being because of the pain that is cast upon it if it is rejected. So when Voldemort rushed forward to the dying boy; he was already too late.

He recanted his rejection before his beloved Lucius; he received one final sweet smile from the boy who had shared their lives before his body simply faded from Lucius' arms.

Lucius sat there in shock as Voldemort crashed to his knees beside the space where moments before had lain Harry. When he hit the ground he started to do something that he had not done

since he was a small child; he cried. Lucius was in shock, but could not stop himself from reaching forward and embracing the man. Both of them felt the hole in their lives that was where Harry over the years had filled them with his sweetness.

He had been fierce in battle, merciless to enemies… and the sweetest, most gentle being that they had ever been blessed to share a life with… and they had lost him forever due to one lapse of control. Many of Harry's belongings disappeared that day; in fact, all of his belongings save those he willed to his allies, which were few.

The goblins went through with Harry's second plan, and Lucius and Voldemort lived for about two thousand more years before they died… they ruled earth and magic prospered while they did, she remembered how her last child loved these two. And they never stopped missing the boy until the day that they ceased to exist.

Another 6,000 years passed, and humans were well established within the stars. All was as humans would wish it, magic had ceased to choose mortals to accept her gifts, and instead she watched and waited.

Finally one day it surged forth, and a prophecy was born. One from the world of Furya would be the downfall of a Lord Marshall. It watched as the Furyans fell. And guarded over one boy that grew to be a great hunter; it watched as he killed, it watched as he saw his only friend fall, and it watched as a ship fell from the sky.

Finally it felt that it was time, and as a ship fell from the sky on a planet that only ever saw the moon once in every sixty years, it placed the weakened and pallid form of the newly named Rhios on the planet, and rewound time by two months; it released the Zephyrcat from his flesh, and set them loose in the abandoned adobe complex, the zephyr caring for the still recovering form of Rhios.

Another mate to her beloved child was born; now was his chance to be loved… she sent a magical gift to her son; he would not know of it until he needed it… it was infinite knowledge to match his already nearly infinite power.

Meeting Children and Giving Names

When Harry awoke, he quickly recognized the zephyr; they had been part of each other for too long for him not to recognize him, after but a day together, Harry formed himself to match the one he declared his brother. They had between them acknowledged that Rhios was more like his parents; but he had not felt comfortable in that role. What this meant was that his prismatic wings showed upon his body, and he allowed his form to grow a tail and ears that were of a gentle silver color. The two lived in the abandoned complex and quickly Harry taught the zephyr about house cleaning. Harry realized on the second day that he had not yet asked his 'brother' his name, and corrected the oversight.

"I have been waiting for you to give me one; it is a sign of our bond for the carrier to give us a name… it is also your acknowledgement of my worthiness to bear one." As he said this the zephyr looked away, as if he were afraid that Rhios would find him unworthy.

Harry, looking at him realized what his fear was and smiled softly. "I gift you, brother, with the name Kedar." Upon receiving his name Kedar smiled at Rhios.

"Brother, there are a few things that you need to be aware of." Here there was hesitation; "Rhios, you are over eight thousand years in the future of your world, and you have not aged; nor will you after this birthing day. You will be reaching your full awakened power, and you will be having a number of powers coming to you at once… you may not come out of this at all sane. Rhios, if that happens, if there is no control to your insanity; there are two choices available, though you will need to make your decision now. You can either take a mate from whom or what ever is available; or you can ask for magic to destroy you. Though the mate does not have to be permanent."

Rhios looked at his new brother/child softly and gave the sweet smile that he was known for. "What would happen to you brother if I were to die?"

Kedar felt hi heart lurch in agony at the thought of the loss of his bearer, but looked sadly at his brother. "I will live; but I would never have a chance to live with my mate."

Harry nodded and sighed. "I make myself a third choice then, I will not force myself upon anyone. I choose that if I go insane upon the absorption of my own power that magic can choose to bind those powers that I cannot control until such time that I can."

Kedar looked at his brother, really looking at him for the first time since he had hatched. His eyes were verdant and gentle despite the cruelty and rejections he had been through. His hair was black and long, reaching his hips, with his beautiful silvery ears up above it. He had a fluid grace that could be either male or female but spoke entirely either way of being a predator. His skin remained as creamy and honey complected as it ever was and his scars and tattoos were still upon his body, both back and front; unfaded throughout time; because they had yet to fade from his psyche… nor were they ever likely to.

The wings stretching from his back for all they were prismatic they were not quite see-through you could see through them but colors would tint all you saw. In the sun they were every color of the rainbow, yet no light reflected blindingly from them, his tail swung gracefully from just below the waterfall of his hair. It twitched as if it were letting him know that it noticed his attention. All together his brother was the most beautiful being that he had ever seen, and he could not bear the fear that he felt upon himself.

"We can only hope my brother." Harry continued to smile at him, as he gazed softly at his 'little

brother' Harry remembered when he had first woken up and looked at the being that had hatched within his flesh. A tall being, he towered over Harry's 5'4" frame at 6'2". He had eyes that were a shade of liquid gold that was unseen anywhere else. His skin was tanned lightly and he was masculine; almost eerily so. His hair was silver and stopped just below his shoulder blades and his ears were black to match his wings and tail.

Harry was happy at this moment in time… he knew that soon he may very well die, but he finally had one being who truly accepted him; and did not despise or even dislike him. He had a planet upon which he could live without being hounded by other people, and he had his simple needs cared for… water and food were not in short supply here. The only thing that got on his nerves a little was that his 'little brother' looked like he was 20… so even though Harry was over 10,000 years his senior, he still looked like the younger of the two. He knew he could look older at will… but he felt that was cheating.

A week and a half later the brothers watched a ship fall from the sky; turning their gazes upon each other Kedar said "I am going to check things out… you prepare for guests." Rhios simply nodded and smiled; turning to the building that contained the items that would be required he wondered how his brother could give an order and still sound deferential.

Kedar watched his brother for a moment; worried; what would come of these strangers should any survive the crash. With a final glance at him, he took to the sky and flew to a spire a short way from the ship.

Finding Strangers and Flying Cats

Kedar listened as a man screamed from within; something in the tone of those screams told him that there was no saving that male. A few minutes later a man came running from the ship. He was bald and wearing goggles that were blacked upon his eyes. Something about him caused a stirring from within him and deserting his watch upon the ship, Kedar chose to instead watch this male.

Harry quickly finished his preparations; there were the rations packs they had found in the complex and glasses for the water. He quickly got bored and decided to join his brother. He knew that Kedar was watching the survivors before he chose to speak with them, after all, you did not invite over strangers before you found out if they were liable to kill you.

He sent out a psy-wave to his brother 'Brother; you are the only one who can get water here, trade me places and finish our preparations' Kedar felt a wave of embarrassment slide through him. He had forgotten that his brother did not have the knowledge of technology that he did. He quickly agreed and sent his brother a mental map to where he was. Both started the flight towards each other. Kedar never noticed the silver eyes watching him fly away from the bone graveyard as their owner sat within the shade of a large set of ribs.

COV

As Riddick watched the rapid departure of the strange cat-bird that had been observing him he took note of the direction in which it flew; never know, he may need to follow it at some point, it might know where to find water. Riddick sat in the shade afforded him by the rib bones of one of the largest creatures he had ever seen. He was grateful that Johns hadn't come after him yet; not that he couldn't take the little cocksucker, but the man did have an annoying tendency to use flash bang grenades and then lock him up and tranq him while he was still recovering from the pain.

As a matter of fact, that was how he had gotten into this mess in the first place. As he contemplated this, he was simultaneously heading back to spy on the small group of survivors, as far as he was thus far aware, they were his only source of food and water. Riddick paused; a shadow had flown overhead. As he crouched behind a boulder he pulled the shiv he had made from one of those bones in the yard and looked quickly around for the thing that had created the shadow.

He turned fully around before he saw it. A strange cat-human-bird crossbreed stood before him; he had never seen such a creature before, and he had to admit around the sudden discomfort in his lower half, that this was definitely amongst the most beautiful creatures he had ever seen. He did not however let down his guard. His knife in hand he growled out. "Who are you?" His eyes had narrowed with his demand, and his voice lowered to a growl. He was not expecting the gasp from the creature, nor was he expecting the creature to fall to its knees before him.

As Rhios saw the human-like being he had landed behind he gave a gasp and partially collapsed. This man was one of the most masculine he had ever seen. But Rhios could tell that whatever he was, he was not human. Rhios felt an influx of emotions at the sight of him; he knew that this man was his mate. He also remembered how his last two mates had found him unworthy. He would not try again; he could not be rejected if he did not offer himself. Gathering himself together he finally responded to the man. "My name is Rhios; I was curious to see who had come to our desert uninvited. It is not often that humans make such… mistakes." Harry could not help himself; he made that last bit purr out like a threat. His inner being desperate for his mate's attention, even if it wasn't the attention he truly craved.

Riddick looked at the cat-angel and enjoyed the purr-like sound of his voice; however, at the unspoken threat that left the kittens mouth he leapt forward; knocking the other male to his back and riding him down. "Richard B. Riddick- escaped convict, murderer." He could tell that the other male was surprised at his speed. Riddick couldn't help gloating down at him silently.

Rhios simply sighed and made no moves at all. Riddick was surprised at the sweet, almost gentle smile he received from him. "Where are you heading to anyways?" came from the soft lips of the kitten beneath him.

Without thinking he responded. "I'm going back to the ship to see about getting some O2, gonna need it on this planet. Riddick felt his lips twitch at the adorable head tilt the kitten gave him. The kitten simply reached up and gently pushed Riddick off of him and took to the skies; in moments he disappeared much to Riddick's disappointment. Then he shook the matter from his mind and went back to his mission… he wasn't joking about needing that O2.

Pretty Kitties and Stupid Mercs

Rhios' POV

As I watched Riddick from above, I couldn't help but notice his movements were like a predators, he was wonderful to watch. I had watched while he observed the humans kill another of their kind. I watched him as he approached a large man who was burying a body, his knife was drawn; and while his manner was menacing, there was no sign that he actually planned on killing the oblivious man. As I moved a bit farther out of range of the sun to avoid my shadow falling upon Riddick again, I heard the large man scream; I turned my head and saw Riddick rush towards the man, turning my head I was just in time to see the man I didn't know sucked deeper into the earth.

Blood spattered from where he disappeared, splashing the walls. Riddick stood crouched over the hole for a moment when a man appeared from a hill that was in my line of sight to the crash. I watched as Riddick took a second to gather himself; he turned smoothly then and loped away only to dive to the ground awkwardly to avoid a bullet; I couldn't wait anymore, I start my descent. He may not be mine, but until I die or he rejects me I am his. I will try to protect him…without drawing their attention.

Riddick's POV

I hit the ground to avoid Johns' bullet, he was over me in seconds ripping off my goggles; kicking me and screaming about pulling shit on different planets; I was just tryin' to minimize the damage… mostly to my eyes. The woman Fry, she pulled him off and the other woman; the one who hung with the kid started screaming and kicking me in his place; I looked up trying to see through the blinding light and only then realize that Johns had stepped back to smirk… he was gonna regret that.

A shadow was quickly descending upon us and I realized with a chill that definitely did not belong on this planet with three suns; that I knew only one being that could fly and might try to help me; I hope that I am wrong, he seems far too gentle to do well against this lot. I hear him land and as I hear his purring voice I know that unfortunately I am correct.

I hear him tell Johns that violence is not permitted.

I hear John's yell "What the fuck?!" cock his gun and start a rant about freaks. A shadow stepped in front of me and I heard a gun-shot and smelled the rich scent of blood. A light, feathered form falls against my chest as I hear the others rage at Johns. He seems to ignore them and gets me in cuffs. He drags me off toward the ship.

I hear two of the remaining group as they grab the kitten and drag him along. They don't know what they can do to help; but I hear them say that he is alive, and the one that is posing as male says that at least he won't die in the heat. Johns locks me in the bunker. Both hands apart, but at least I can see; I watch as Johns grabs kitten from the females and throws him at my feet; I winced in my head; the kitten had been shot in the side, the blood had stopped flowing, so he was either in shock or dead.

His wing was bent beneath him; it wasn't quite broken but it couldn't be comfortable for it to be bent at that angle. I know better than to show weakness in my face; it would be fodder for these wolves, but I truly wish I could help get the little one into a more comfortable position. He was the first being to ever try to protect me. I can't help but wonder why he would try to protect me; I wasn't exactly friendly during our meeting. The smell of his blood is starting to overwhelm me; it

is a sweet delicious smell to me. I hear Fry's footsteps, they have their own cadence; she is heading over to talk to me about the man in the hole I suppose.

I glance down at the kitten again; he looks barely fourteen like this. His clothes are a white matte color; they are some sort of white loose hakama and a long tunic with a sash worn under a long loose coat. They cover most of his body, though the coat was mostly off and his tunic had a rent in it from where they had dragged him. As I watch him, I cannot help but feel something in me reach for this boy, my instinct tells me he is mine; mine to protect; mine to keep…mine to mate. It's actually rather disturbing how visceral this feeling is. As Fry walks in quite obviously to interrogate me; I feel a sort of amusement; she isn't going to get much out of me while I'm in this mood. Oh, well, let the games begin.

Rhios' POV

I feel my body throbbing in pain (though not as bad as it is after my torture sessions) as I hear a voice above my head, it is female and I do not recognize it; there is something off here. I sniff silently, not moving lest the female know that I am again in the realms of consciousness.

There is the scent of a male; musk and the scent of a wild cat hunting in a forest; strangely soothing to me; the woman smells of sweat and lust, it is overwhelming and it takes me a minute to understand that they are my mate and another; a growl leaves my lips at the thought of another lusting after my mate. The woman doesn't pay attention to my growl I cannot help but think that she is too stupid to survive this planet; my mate however does take heed, I can tell by the way he tenses; I can feel it in the air around us.

As I allow myself to relax and gather information the woman speaks again. "Show me your eyes." She orders him. That pisses me off; but I don't move; who does she think she is to order my mate to do anything… I haven't even seen his eyes yet!

"Gotta come closer for that." Riddick tells her, I can almost taste the amusement emitted from him in waves; I knew in that moment that it was going to be a weakness of mine.

The woman takes a few steps closer to him; hesitantly, I feel approval well up… she should be afraid to approach what is mine; I don't often share, and I can't help but think to myself that this oughta be amusing.

"Closer." Riddick purrs. She takes another step. Riddick jerks in his chains- standing abruptly- and she lets out a gasp I look up quickly; I am almost desperate to see his eyes; they're beautiful, liquid silver and feral; it's like a starving mountain lion- deadly but beautiful, something that is hard to look away from; even if he wasn't looking at me.

I felt a wave of jealousy; he was staring her straight in the eye, he didn't spare me a glance. That was when I remembered; he isn't mine and never will be. I will not offer myself again because the next time I am rejected I know I will die… and I have one more egg to offer life to before I can die.

"How the hell do you get eyes like that?" I hear from the shadows by the doorway. Both my mate and the lusting woman turn to the girl I can smell there; I cannot quite turn fully towards her. I however can see Riddick's face; he is amused by the girl, in truth so am I.

"First you gotta kill a few people." He murmurs, his eyes became even more amused as I hear her gush

"I can do that." I smell the lusting woman, she is disturbed by this; it makes me wish I could see the girls' face; it was bound to be amusing.

"Then you get sent to a place where they tell you you'll never see daylight again, and then pay twenty menthol cools to a man who calls himself the doctor to do a surgical shine job on your eyes."

The girl doesn't say anything else but rushes away; she smells happy and Riddick smells of amusement and a strange sort of pride. Something about the girl tugs on me… and I know that she is one of the few that I will wind up trying to protect; even against myself. After all, Riddick considers her pack, I can tell.

The woman smells of disapproval. It does NOT mix well with the sweat and lust. I let out a groan; and Riddick's attention turns to me. The woman steps towards me and I tense. That hurt; I am going to have to be careful not to do that again… I sigh; I hope I'm not going to get shot again; I may not die but it sure as fuck hurts.

"Where is he? He's not in the hole – we looked." She asks Riddick, I can practically sense his annoyance- he already told her he didn't kill him.

"Look deeper." He answers before she turns her full attention to me.

Riddick's POV

I watched the girl-child scamper away happily; barely paying attention to the rest of the conversation; I cannot help but feel a bit approving of her; she didn't let me scare her bugshit like the others did; she was definitely on my to like list. I turned my attention to kitten as Fry steps away; Fry has taken position over him and I watch him tense… I heard the near inaudible hiss that emitted from his lips as he forced himself to relax again.

Something in his scent spoke of resignation. He was expectin' something bad I could tell. Can't blame him really, come down from the sky and tell people not to be violent then get shot and wake up with one of 'em standin' over you; it's bound to make you a little worried.

Johns walks in; apparently he was listening in; he grins at me maliciously and grabs kitten by the hair. Yanking him up till he was sitting upright. He didn't make any more noises but the agony was clear on his face. I felt myself jerk on my chains before I realize that I had made a move. Oh well, too late to make them think I don't care now. I don't make any other movements as Johns smiles nastily at me.

"We will, Riddick, we will." He turns to kitten and leers at him; Fry has already walked out; shame she didn't see this, she might think twice on trustin' Johns. He quickly drops kitten and steps away, shaking his hands and glaring down at him. With a growl he kicks him, though he hasn't moved at all; in any way and I growl in rage; there was NO call for that. Johns mutters about being shocked and walks out, though he gave a last lingering look at my kitten, though who knows when he became that, oh hell, I'm not gonna fight my instincts on this; it left me to listen to the labored gasping of the kitten; who is once again bleeding and unconscious; and worse somehow, out of my reach.

I can't do anything to help him, so I settle down and listen; after about fifteen minutes I can tell that they finally got someone with the courage to go down the hole the man Zeke was lost in. I can tell from the strange whispers that pick up under ground… then I hear screaming and I recognize Fry's voice; trying to get their attention I start to jerk rhythmically on my chains… maybe they'll get to her in time… not that I care or anything, but she seems to be one of two people in the group who actually have a brain… and the other one was too young to be listened to by the others.

Deeply Instinctive and Spying Angrily

Rhios' POV

I woke up again moments after Riddick started clashing his chains; in the twenty or so minutes that it takes for the group to come back I manage to get myself leaning against a wall and my magic sealing off my injuries in the five minutes after that, that it took Johns to convince himself to come to the bunker; I was healed enough to walk, sort of, though not to fly; it would take me a while to recover from this… and if things continued in the same way it has been going I'm just gonna wind up dead.

Johns enters, his shotgun slung over one shoulder, and we both tense, I bare my teeth at this disgusting man. Johns glances at me, and licks his lips- then looks to Riddick. "You sure do pick 'em Riddick. I'm not here to kill you." Johns says to Riddick- smug Blue-Eyed… evil. Acting as if he never harmed us and hadn't made threats to me with his eyes. My own eyes were promising him the tortures of hell. Riddick's eyes glance at me in amusement before turning back to him.

"Found something worse then me down there, huh?" Riddick asks, ignoring Johns grip on his gun. Johns gives a little nod, swallowing showing his nerves I nearly laugh at him, he has no compunctions shooting me but is afraid of Riddick; the man obviously didn't have any instincts to speak of.

"We're movin' out. And I was wondering if I shouldn't lighten the load right now." Johns says, eyeing both of us, I hiss, low and threatening- it's something that is coming easier to me; Riddick just narrows his eyes at Johns. Riddick's and Johns' eyes meet; Johns straightens out the shotgun, leveling at Riddick's head I start to attempt getting up; it doesn't go well.

"Woof, woof." Riddick teases, Johns flinches. The shotgun discharges, and Riddick is still alive and well, I relax as I see the chains are broken. Riddick's free; it makes me wonder when Johns'll turn on him.

"Want you to remember this moment, Riddick. How it coulda gone and didn't." Johns gloats he truly is an idiot; Riddick looks up at him.

"Say that again."

"Here's the deal. You work without the chains, without the bit- without the shivs. You help us get off this rock." Johns tempts Riddick- his hands still on the shotgun.

"For what? The honor of goin' back to some asshole of a cell?" Riddick sneers while rubbing at his wrists- his attention fully on Johns.

He looks uncomfortable with Riddick's full attention on him; Johns sighs, and looks around us. "Truth is, Riddick, I'm tired of this head-up shit. I wanna be free of you as much as you wanna be free of me."

My eyes narrow further… there is a lie in there and I'm betting it's the part about freedom, specifically Riddick's. I shift my weight, I still hurt. I see Riddick glance at me, thoughts of the future sliding into his eyes. "You'd cut me loose…" Riddick begins seriously- he ends sarcastic and biting enough to make me grin. "Boss?" Johns smiles, sure that Riddick won't turn away the offer; sure that he was gonna win this little battle.

"Only if we both get outta this alive. And there may be a way." Johns knows something important

that we don't. Interesting- I wonder what else they found out scouting. Johns offers Riddick his hand, a way to seal the deal between them. Riddick stares at his hand and speaks honestly.

"My recommendation; Do me. Don't take the chance that I'll get shiv-happy on your wannabe ass. Ghost me, Johns. I would if I were you." Johns snorts, the hand still offered. I however feel the need to smack Riddick upside the head… ah well, maybe later.

"If you were me, I'd kill us both. C'mon, you wanna sit at the grown-up table or not?"

Riddick seems to reach for Johns hand- instead he grabs the shotgun with his other hand, and with a blur of movement I nearly can't catch, Riddick has the gun and Johns is staring into his own shotgun- which Riddick is holding… beautiful. "Want you to remember this moment." Riddick purrs with a smirk. He pumps it- emptying it- and drops it. I have to admit that Riddick had given Johns good advice… not that I would have allowed him a chance to hurt my mate; I smile in my head, imagining Johns' death. I get up; this time I manage; following slowly, I am somewhat surprised when he slows minusculely to allow me to do so.

COV

Kedar continued on to the adobe complex when he arrived he had found that the water collector was broken again and had gone to the supply room to gather the parts needed for repairs.

He had just turned to start towards it to make the repairs when he had felt the sudden pain… and the sudden severing of the bond with his carrier. His eyes flashed black; his family was either unconscious or dead. Either way; he now knew that these humans were unworthy of trust. Standing swiftly from where he had fallen at the severing of his link; he headed into the skies; he needed to know what had happened.

Rhios was the most gentle of beings, until you threatened something he cared for… Kedar on the other hand was fiercer but carefree; until you threatened what he cared for… then he turned into a fiercely focused predator that planned out every move until he had destroyed you… painfully and viciously. Just as he hit the air, the reverberating sound waves of what he recognized as some sort of gun reached him. A tear fell from his eye as he realized the unlikelihood of his family being merely unconscious, his eyes hardened and he flew to where he had last seen his brother. If nothing else… he might find his brothers body for burial.

He flew more swiftly than he ever had before and reached the sight of his brother's injury before they got far; he watched as the human females argued about his brother's body until a disguised female and the female who was with her started to drag his brother away. He started to dive at them until he heard the girl say that at least they could do something for him; he nearly fell from the sky in relief as he realized that his brother was alive. He knew then that the small female in disguise was going to be his to protect. And he was satisfied with that knowledge.

He watched as his brother was brought within the shade of their crashed ship; and then he turned his attention to listening to the humans who were remaining. He needed to gather knowledge after all; he had to know who to kill for harming Rhios. As he listened in he came to the conclusion that his trip to the supply room had been well timed; they had arrived at that time to the complex. They had noticed the ship and then returned to this place. After repairing the water collector… he felt abashed at not having noticed that. Apparently they had then heard gunshots and rushed back… just in time to harm his parent/brother.

Kedar's eyes glowed gold as they told of the 'strange creature' that had flown from the sky and dared to tell them that no violence was allowed. Kedar sneered at them; Rhios was like an angel, in that he never made declarations without purpose.

He did not like fighting; however he understood that it would happen. If Rhios had declared no violence then these idiots were best served to listen… in fact he himself was making a note of it… until told otherwise no bloodshed. He couldn't wait until his brother allowed him to slip his lead. As he continued to watch these humans, he noticed that two of the women were missing, apparently inside the ship; he hoped for their sake they were caring for his brother.

A few minutes later the girl came running out of the ship grinning broadly. Kedar gave a sigh of relief as he felt his brother pulling upon their magic; obviously healing himself. A moment later the woman that led them followed, she was shaking her head as if in frustration… something about her gave him a feeling of dislike; it only took him a moment to realize it was Rhios' and not his own. His curiosity was piqued, his brother was a great leader and had led thousands into battle; he had shared the memories even though he had not yet hatched at the time… even his worst enemies had not awoken this form of dislike in him… not even his torturers.

His attention was swiftly drawn back to the wrecked ship as a gunshot went off. His fear was stopped by a wave of comfort and reassurance. Rhios sent Kedar a sense of needing to stay and watch the back of the pack; and the sense that it had grown. Kedar had to wonder who was now going to be part of the family; he watched the proceedings carefully for a hint… and nearly leapt down to the humans when he watched his brother stumble out behind the man he had earlier watched over rather than these annoying humans.

Falling Feral and Angry Introductions

Chapter twelve Rhios' POV

I felt my little one's fear when Johns' shot rang out and sent him general emotions and instincts; I was too wiped to actually send words, he quickly sent acknowledgement to me. He remembered the other half of me; most used to say that I was a sweet and gentle being… which I could be. However, every magical being and human that crossed me had met the other half of me. I am by my nature a dominant creature, I was created to lead and protect, and to tear down any who disrespect me. At one point I had a reputation that had every being on earth fearing me… and Kedar was mentally attached to me; he knew my dangers.

As I followed the man who could be my mate I felt a stirring from within my right shoulder and I knew that within the next couple of hours my final egg would hatch. My eyes flipped rapidly from green to red and back… and I smiled; my youngest one was ready to face the worlds. I nearly missed the reminder that came to me in a breathy whisper "No, you have more."

Riddick's POV

As I listened to kitten stumbling after me I sensed something change, some faltering of his step; I turned to glance at him and saw his green eyes flash to red and I had a feeling that something had just changed; though not necessarily for the better; as I watched him smile I actually had to hide a shiver; he was… beautiful, dangerous… sexy. Something about the wildness in those eyes bordering on insanity drew me in.

Despite what most people may believe, Furyans are not human… we are not attracted by weakness, only strength will call to us; this kitten may just be what my nature needs. I'll have to watch him. As I stare at him I find that his eyes carry a strange… knowledge. As if the entirety of the universe has come to roost and he knows all of its secrets. He smiles at me and I hear him say loudly enough so that even the others can hear him "If any of you harm them I will be forced to eradicate all of you." Looking into those knowing green eyes, I had a feeling that this little one would do it… I nod to show that I understand his warning, and his promise.

Rhios' POV

I listen to the humans; they are flabbergasted that such an injured being like me would dare to make such a threat; I nearly laugh, but stop myself as I send for my Kedar, it would hurt too much right now. As I wait, it's just a moment before Kedar kneels before me, I wonder how they think they have dominance over me.

I know that I am slipping into animalistic mode; after all I am about to essentially give birth in a pack that has shown no compunctions about harming me on a planet that is not my own, with an unacknowledged mate and an impending sense of danger… they should feel lucky to have gotten a warning at all; as I slip further into my mind to prepare both of us for the hatchings, I send Kedar a knowledge that he will be needed; as I slip into myself I feel his acknowledgement. "I will protect you; my bearer, and I will protect your mate and the girl that you have chosen." I sent him a wave of pleasure and let go.

Kedar's POV

I knew that something was changing when I felt Rhios suddenly send for me in an urgent call; I

flew to him and knelt to show my submission while baring my neck to him… I could feel his inner nature coming free; we would all have to be careful.

I felt his mind growing fuzzy and knew he needed reassurances before he could devote himself to the greatest task that was ever given to any being; bringing forth the new life of a member of the pack. As I swooped towards my carrier I did not miss the way the larger portion of the humans were offended by his warning; it brought anger to me, it was within my carrier's rights to destroy them without such; however what kept me from slaughtering them was a sense of joy… Rhios' mate stepped forth to protect him. Even though I could have laughed at the thought that Rhios would ever need protection from me, I felt a great joy that if I failed, another would stand for him… protect him in his rare time of weakness. In that moment I accepted him as my alphas beta.

I noticed another who looked ready to step forth for my carrier. The male disguised female. I felt a stirring in my chest, and realized that Rhios had also accepted this one as pack. I accepted her with a nod and turned my attention back to the annoying man who smelled of something foul flowing through his veins who dared to have a gun aimed even in the general direction of our carrier, and barely restrained a snarl as he demanded answer. I knew then that he would be the one. I smiled evilly in my head… no need to allow him to know of the threat to his existence until it was time.

Riddick's POV

I watched as the other cat-bird-man that I recognized from the bone yard swept from the sky to land and swiftly offer what was obviously fealty to the little one who was now on his knees; when I had seen the movement from the corner of my eye I had instinctively stepped to put myself between it and the kitten. I had stopped myself when I recognized him, but something about the way he was baring his neck to the little one made me nervous. That showed far too much wariness for what I had observed from the little one thus far; though my instincts purred that from this one it was both a wise move and a true show of how important the green eyed kitten really was.

I allowed myself to be distracted as I tried to figure out why the older looking of the two beings appeared to serve the younger. Kedar however was only paying attention to the weapon as he snarled at Johns' "Put that weapon away! You do not want to be seen as a threat right now… in his current condition any threat he senses until he returns to himself will be eliminated, didn't you hear his warning?"

Johns looked at Kedar; this was the second flying cat-freak they had come upon on this planet in the last two hours… he needed to consider what this might mean, he slowly lowered his gun; glancing towards the cat creature he had been secretly lusting after and stilling when he saw that his eyes had turned the color of freshly spilled blood on snow. "What the hell are you things?!" he asked in a very disgusted voice.

Kedar glared at him and answered. "I am a being known as a Zephyrcat; and Rhios is my carrier; My bearer… the strongest warrior and only carrier of our pack." Johns' backed away from them warily and Fry got the group together gathering the belongings they were taking to the shuttle. All of the humans save the girl were wary of these creatures; and I wanted to laugh, something interesting was coming… I could feel it.

Wearily Walking and Warily Watching

Rhios was feeling trapped as he walked beside Kedar, he could feel the human eyes upon him and the emotions coming from them were stifling. The blonde female felt a dizzying mix of lust and jealousy, curiosity and superiority that were sickening when added into the guilt and self hatred she felt. The priest Imam was merely curious in a childlike manner, as were his children. The man Paris, was horribly slimy, he could actually feel how the man was calculating what he could gain by selling the cat-beings. And Johns, he was feeling lust and power, he felt the need to hurt them and mate them, and he hated them for "making" him feel that way about a male creature. All of these emotions plus the excitement of his soon to be hatchling and the pains of his magic preparing him for the new bonds to form left Rhios feeling very trapped indeed.

Kedar's POV

Kedar was frustrated with the humans, they continued to stare at his bearer, and they whispered loudly to each other as if they could not be easily overheard. He could feel his bearer's anxiety and discomfort, and if it were a viable choice he would fly ahead and prepare what was needed for his bearer to be on better comfort; but it was not viable at all, his bearer was injured and not in his right mind, he was surrounded by people that they could not trust to care for him at all, and he was about to go into his of age growth to top it off. If only the damned humans would be silent.

Suddenly Rhios fell to the ground and writhed silently, causing Kedar to stop and swiftly lift him up, refusing to touch his bearer's wings, feeling through Rhios the pain as they slowly contorted and slid into his body until there was no sign of them at all. Kedar was careful still after this as he felt the pain through Rhios, there was more going on than they knew at the moment.

Riddick had dropped the sled that he was pulling to swiftly come forward and touch the shoulder of his kitten, he didn't know what to do, but his instincts told him that he needed to be near his little one. Normally he would have thought about his reputation, but right now his instincts were riding him and he put no thought into the matter at all.

COV

Jack watched Riddick and the cat-man who was writhing on the ground; they were heading back to the drop-ship with the first power core to get accurate readings from it to see if they could escape from this odd planet. As she watched the strange trio in front of her she caught a movement from the corner of her eye and turned toward it. She belatedly noticed that it was Shazza, wearing a look of combined bitterness and rage and loathing while looking upon the trio. Jack felt her self want to back away from the woman.

COV

Paris was getting annoyed, the convict wasn't moving as fast as they were hoping he would, if the damned man didn't stop pampering that strange cat-thing they were never going to get to the shade.

COV

Johns grinned as he saw a true sign of Riddicks' weakness, if he kept that pretty cat-boy under his thumb he wouldn't have a single problem getting him to the newest prison planet… and if he had to he could get rid of the other cat-thing. His smile turned unpleasant as he contemplated the things he could do to the boy in order to get Riddick to obey him... it gave him a shiver.

COV

Frye watched the three men and felt a shiver climb her spine, something about the way the two men huddled around the third said that something was happening… she hated not being in the loop.

COV

Finally Rhios stopped writhing, the first pains leaving him as he got to his feet. He sent a reassuring thought to Kedar, and a soothing smile to Riddick. He swiftly pretended that nothing was happening and started to again walk towards his and Kedar's sanctuary. He wished he had slightly better control over his abilities… but he didn't oh well. His thoughts swiftly veered back to annoyance at the pack around him, they weren't right… they needed to go away.

Colorful Changes and Playful Partings

Chapter Notes

A/N: it's been brought to my attention that I mistakenly said that night falls only every sixty years… I apologize, I have no idea where my brain was that day… the suns set every twenty-two years for the equivalent of six months.

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Kedar watched the humans as they reached the village that Rhios and he occupied. He was aware that they had plans to use the spaceship to leave this place, but he was also aware that the darkness was rapidly approaching them, and his Bearer wasn't in his right mind to protect them.

He waited silently until Johns sent Riddick away before catching Riddick's attention and leading Rhios towards an abode that held all they needed to care for the changes coursing through Rhios' body.

Riddick's POV

I noticed that Kedar wanted me to speak with him, but it would have to wait until I found something to patch the wings on the ship. Didn't take more than twenty minutes; then I went and sent the Chrislams to start working on it. Now to see what Kedar wanted… and to try to get them to tell me what was wrong with kitten, it had been getting obviously worse as time passed on, his wings disappeared from his body, his eyes spending more and more time as bloody red instead of glowingly green. The way he had started to stagger in the last mile or so to the settlement and he didn't speak anymore.

Kedar was waiting for me when I walked into the building he had led kitten into earlier, he looked a little strained, and kitten was half reclined in a corner, obviously in pain as his skin was slowly turning a black with tints of blue and purple swirling beneath his skin. Upon seeing me Kedar was obviously relieved and quickly ushered me forward. I sat beside Rhios' who touched my arm and relaxed abruptly, slumping into my lap with his head directly over my heart. That's when Kedar started to explain a lot of things to me; he explained the relationship between himself and Rhios.

The pack standards and what to expect from this childbirth… I didn't know what to say about the childbirth thing so I just let it go. When he explained what they would want Johns for I couldn't help but chuckle, I thought it a fitting end for a child killer. When he got to the coming darkness though my laughter died… this was going to be a pain in my ass.

COV

Kedar left Rhios in Riddicks lap as he left to find the rest of the survivors, he found them as Frye found out about the coming eclipse, and he went to speak to the group.

"Carolyn Frye, Johns, I need to speak to you of your plans for the ship you plan to leave with."

Carolyn was freaked and simply stared at Kedar for a few moments before she forcibly calmed herself and stepped forward to speak to him. "Why didn't you warn us of the eclipse? What, were you hoping that we'd get eaten by those monsters!?" was very nearly shrieked in Kedar's face.

He merely blinked at her; "That's what I came to speak to you about…now the eclipse is nearly here, and you have said that you need to go back for four more power cells; I am offering to protect your young here while the adults go and retrieve the cells you need; that way if the dark falls before you return you will not have to worry for the young while the adults work."

Johns took this opportunity to step forward and aggressively ask why he and Rhios wouldn't be coming with the adults… it came out as "So why aren't you and the other freak helping us out? Too good to get your hands a little dirty with manual labor?" here Johns tossed in a sneer and looked him up and down as if he was a filthy dung covered corpse that had, had the temerity to walk up and glomp him.

Kedar looked at him with a mask of quiet dignity… mentally reminding himself that he couldn't kill this man…yet. And replied "My Bearer is about to give birth to our next generation and I must be here to assist him, he won't be able to move around, and there are the rituals of our people to be seen to upon the acceptance of a new member."

Both Frye and Johns were in mild shock, but Carolyn accepted his offer and went to gather the adults. Johns looked at the cat-bird-man in front of him and couldn't help but ask; "So… You're gonna be a father?"

Kedar smirked a small bit of Deviltry sparked behind his eyes as he turned away and gently shook his head. "No, my Bearer is going to give me a new brother or sister I was starting to fear I would be an only child."

Johns was openly flabbergasted as he watched the creature walk away from him.

Chapter End Notes

A/N: I apologize again, yes Ali did die in the coring room, just assume that the Dwelling that Rhios and Kedar went to is sound-proof to assist in calming Rhios from his aggravation and prevent the others from hearing anything happening within.

View Points and Intuitive Insights

Suleiman was surprised when Imam asked him to stay behind with his brother and Jack, but he agreed to do it with a promise from the man he looked up to, to come back to him… he had had a crush on the man for a while, and while he no longer felt that way towards him, he felt strongly towards him still.

As he watched Paris, Shazza, Johns, and Frye run towards the sand-cat he felt a moment of premonition that this would be the last time he saw most of them, so he stared just a little closer, noticing how Johns is already having the shakes again, Frye had a cut on her left bicep, and her hair was starting to frizz, Shazza was limping slightly. Imam was standing straight and had a soothing aura that held him steady, but he just knew that he would lose it when the man was gone… he would do his best to live up to the pride Imam felt in him. He would protect the littles.

Rhios felt the adults leave and cast a swift spell upon multiple parties… Rhios and Riddick both received protections, though he knew Rhios wasn't leaving.

Johns received a spell that would port him directly to Rhios without weapons when he was needed.

The children received one that would plant a memory and send them to the ship once he got to a specific part of his labor.

Shazza was an odd one, and he decided that he liked her so he gave her something unique should the time of her death fall upon her, she would be changed by magic and placed within his flesh, as a new child. Retaining her personality, and slightly dimming her memories, so that she would be able to move on with her life.

Carolyn he ignored, she was too weak natured to allow into his pack and the wrong form to be of use to his current young. He knew that he was already falling into his instincts and that this was going to be a rare flash of sanity until the birthing was over; so he took advantage of it while he could.

Around the hut he cast power absorbing charms… and he started a mind conversation with Kedar. "Kedar, do you remember the warning you gave me about my coming of age?"

"Of course, what do you have in mind?"

"You and your brother soon to be are bound to me, I have been reminded that I have nearly infinite siblings for you two within my flesh… I know that I cannot afford a lasting insanity, and the closer that the time comes for the birth the more closely I feel my sanity slip. Nor can I allow magic to destroy me, and my instincts are now informing me that my idea of binding myself until I can handle it is not viable…"

Here Kedar interrupted him a little impatiently. "Your idea, my Bearer?"

"I cannot risk my mate at this time. I was wondering if you would be willing to deepen our bond when the time comes for my awakening, help me control the power so that I can make sure all of your siblings get a chance at this verse."

Kedar smiled "You didn't even have to ask. I would be honored to assist you in… Rhios!" he called out as he was suddenly swept away for a minute as he watched the adults leaving the camp.

He could feel the pulsing anguish coming from beneath his bearer's skin, just as he could feel the power thrumming out in waves that seemed to swallow this planet.

Something was changing; Riddick could feel it as he rode the sand cat with the other "Adults." The air seemed thicker somehow, easier to breathe, and somehow more refreshing. He could feel electricity in the slight breeze that was only now picking up, and a sense of light hearted adventure seemed to swallow the planet while the dark came racing to swallow them, bringing a strange sense of doom and joy.

Looking around it didn't look like the rest of the humans could feel it, and that more than anything made him curious. He wouldn't say anything yet, but he liked this feeling, it seemed to caress the predator under his skin… bringing up a snarling purring hellcat like beast to the surface… it was almost time to play.

Carolyn was in semi-shock, she had no idea how to handle all the weirdness. Generally the humans had made outcasts of the not completely humanoid alien species, and human men did not have the ability to bear children… and the there was the whole age thing, Johns had wandered up to her just before they left, looking a little dazed and told her that Rhios was actually Kedar's Mother and not actually in a relationship… Now that had been Squicky to her but she didn't say anything; instead she just wondered what he used to make himself look so much younger than his son.

Imam was less worried than he would have thought that he would be about his remaining two charges, he had lost the youngest in the camp, yes, but the other two had a better chance of surviving than he did, now that they had the protection that the two aliens offered. He had not missed that they had been absent when that entire scenario with Ali had happened.

At first he had felt resentment that they had not given warning or prevented it from happening. But when he had overheard Kedars conversation with Johns and the captain… he had felt a soothing calm that he had always associated with the love of Allah. If anyone could understand the rituals that come with a new life, a priest of Chryslam was definitely foremost among them. And a child of your family should always come before strangers.

He glanced around him at his fellow survivors, paying close attention to each of them; Johns was shaking in what he had since the beginning recognized as withdrawals, it was not his place to judge such things, but if Johns came to him he would council him as he did frequently with his flock on Mecca.

Paris was becoming twitchy, clutching desperately to his bottles of alcohol like they held the answers to the world or all of Allah's love toward mankind.

Frye was looking like a small child had walked up to her and slapped her with a fish and then started talking about the mating habits of land beasts… shocked and very disturbed.

Shazza… the poor woman looked determined and broken. She had obviously loved her husband very much she looked like she was putting everything that she had into just taking her next breath and not giving up. He would need to speak to her if they ever got a chance, if it were not inappropriate he would have already offered her a hug, but it was so he would do his best to watch out for her.

As they raced towards the desiccated remains of metal that had once been their ship, he could only hope that they would all get a chance to leave this planet… and that he would be strong enough for his new small flock.

Gathering Gear and Recovered Remembrances

At the ship it took mere minutes to gather the power cells and return to the sandcat; however it was still too late to use the sandcat to return to the small settlement. While all the other adults had been gathering the requisite cells Paris had been gathering the most expensive bottles of his hooch to bring along for the ride… he felt it was better he have something better to sell when they got off this planet. Ships rarely offered aid to others without at least a small bribe to help pave the way.

As Paris came from the hold, he noticed the darkness had already started to make its introductions to the planet. He could, for a moment, only stare in horror as he saw the spires in the distance crumble as bodies started to launch themselves to the skies; and haunting nightmare inducing cries echoed into the air from the small creatures.

"People, I would suggest you FLEE!!!" was heard from his mouth shortly thereafter.

It took mere moments for most of them to get there, Shazza and Riddick taking the longest had to make a dive for the earth, listening as the small predatory avians flew centimeters above their skin, howling in hunger that the two could nearly feel.

Shazza got up moments after she could no longer hear them over her and ran towards the others, and the illusion of safety merely made her more eager to get there… unfortunately she was too early to rise, and the second wave of the creatures literally tore her apart, carrying her still shrieking body into the skies to devour her.

Riddick got up and joined the others, helping them to close the large doors, pausing before they finished closing to stare in wonder at the much larger versions of the creatures pushing themselves up from beneath the earth, and like the smaller before them become lords of the skies… basking in the freedom to fly; and to hunt.

Kedar was very stressed at the moment, Rhios had sent the children to the ship, but he had kept Jack there with them… which was not the plan! He couldn't even get Rhios to explain himself, he was too far lost in the instincts to even understand Kedars questions.

Jack was taking this rather well, surprisingly she seemed to have an odd understanding of labor that Kedar could not help but be grateful for. She would set cool cloths upon Rhios' head and wipe the sweat from his torso, whilst making gentle crooning sounds to him which seemed to soothe some of the wildness in his eyes.

Kedar and Rhios both stiffened as a small blue green light appeared before Rhios glowing gently and warmly twinkling, it settled itself upon his stomach and with a small flash turned itself into a small tattoo of a flower petal upon his stomach, joining three others there.

Within ten minutes Riddick was watching the so-called adults start to tear each other apart, Imam and Paris had already tussled over Paris' attempts to flee the cargo bay, Johns and Frye were screaming about the necessity of returning to the ship. When Johns went for his gun though, he placed his knife at Johns' groin to get the man to cool down, they needed every able bodied being to get those heavy batteries to the ship… not that that was his current priority really; but this was wasting his time.

Finally the other "adults" pulled themselves together when Frye claimed that Riddick would lead them to safety. He couldn't help the small arch of his brow as he stared at her temerity for a moment before he resigned himself to playing their guide-dog.

Of all the things that Kedar had been preparing himself for during the labor of his bearer, he had not thought that it would be the near silent pain that would bother him the most… the agony etched on the face of Rhios, partnered with his refusal to cry out and the short gasping breaths he released when he could not stop himself; that was true torture for him as he could not help him at all. And to think that he had thought it would be the messy fluids he would have to prepare himself for! He sent a swift glance at Jack, truly the girl was very much calming his bearer to a stable level, he would not have been doing so well in her place… perhaps that was why Rhios had refused to let her go.

Rhios swam in and out of clarity with what was happening in the world around him. The pain was consuming his thoughts a great deal, and he was finally nearing the point where pushing would actually do something. He could feel the magics of his youngling swirling through his skin and he knew that it was finally almost time he needed them to be prepared. As he opened his mouth to speak a second youngling sent an electric rush of its power into his skin, it was… agonizing.

Suddenly a vision flew across his eyes and he remembered quite forcibly the last three eggs that flown into the circle of eggs at the last moment so long ago. And he couldn't help the whimper that left his lips at the thought that crossed his mind… Magical creature Quadruplets. His whole body shuddered at the thought of trying to keep track of four magical babies with various powers and strengths… moments later he gratefully allowed his mind to be submersed into his baser instincts once again.

Aerial Displays and Falling Footwear

The remaining survivors quickly decided that as jumpy as Paris was he would be calmer in the center front of the group pulling the cobbled sled they created to get the cells to the ship. Then they quickly got themselves out of there following Riddick.

Frye couldn't help but be surprised by how swiftly they were managing to move in the pressing dark, nor how well they were managing to get along… admittedly they didn't have the breath to spare to quibble, but they were strangely working as a fairly decent unit.

Imam was breathless; and desperately happy that he had left his last two apprentices with the winged beings. As much as he cared for Hassan and Suleiman, they were far from the most physically fit or speedy. He could only imagine how much more stressed all of them would feel if they were also handling the natural protective urges that come with having young around them in a dangerous situation.

As it was, they were making exceptional time; he wasn't sure if Paris was actually more fit than he seemed or allowing his desperation to drive him to press as hard as he did but he could vaguely see an even darker mass rising in front of them, he could only assume that it was the large ravine that they had crossed through earlier.

POVC

Riddick was silent as he played lead dog to these people. He was dealing with some conflicting urges at the moment; he was feeling uneasy it was almost unnatural, how well things were happening, which naturally had the hairs on the back of his neck raised waiting to see what would happen to change things. At the same time he desperately wanted to be with kitten, it didn't feel natural to be away while he was obviously weakened and in pain.

Still… the strangeness of seeing all of these lethal creatures around them but not truly paying any attention to them was just flat out disturbing. A moment later, it made a little more sense, a drop of blue landed on his hand drew his attention and a quick glance up showed him what he could only consider to be aerial displays in a mating dance.

As he watched he saw that it was very slowly getting more and more bloody up above them… Oh, hell no. he quickly turned back to the others. "We're picking up speed, people; these monsters are gonna be raining from the sky in a few minutes."

Paris stopped for a moment and looked up… which really was rather stupid as he couldn't see anything, but he quickly realized that and oddly without saying a word, he just stubbornly moved himself forward as fast as he could.

At about the midway point of the canyon, Johns came forward to join Riddick, saying "You know Riddick, not all of us are going to make it; there's not room for all of us on the ship, wouldn't it be nice if we got through this only losing one or two of them?"

Riddick looked at the waste of life and said "Not if I'm one of the two."

Johns let out a twisted smile and said "Nah, I figured this would be a good time to get rid of the dead weight, a preacher type ain't gonna do us any good in space, and we certainly don't need any weasels to hold us back." Glancing back at Paris and Imam.

It was at this point that the other shoe finally fell. The flying beasts above apparently decided the

show was over and now was the time for battle; the first of the beasts fell from the sky… in the worst possible part of their entourage. Directly onto the power generator lighting the small tubes around them.

Quickly the entire lot of them surrounded the sled, quickly lighting what alcohol bottles were not destroyed by the weight of the raptor. What met their gazes was not what they ever wanted to see. There were only 5 bottles not crushed; the generator was beyond repair, and the giant bone crest of the predacious beast had driven itself through the sled and into the ground; they were now going to have to drag the giant batteries with a make shift harness made from the ropes they were previously towing the sled with.

Paris turned his eyes to the sky with a look that was both sarcastic and despairing, yet only said "Really?" as if expecting an answer.

Johns was thoroughly distracted by this and jumped on making a harness that he quickly tied between himself and the batteries, while Frye started crying; she was ridiculously scared now that things weren't going as smoothly as they had been. Now that the seeming protection of the light was less than before and she could vividly remember Shazza's death. She didn't want to die like that.

Psyche's Folly and Many Minor Mistakes

Chapter Notes

Sorry it has taken me so long to get this to you... I really haven't had any inspiration for it, but i hate leaving things incomplete so I will try to slog on through this. There will only be one more chapter that I plan on leaving open ended so that people can make their own follow- ups if they wish, so feel free. Who know maybe I'll get inspiration again someday and pick it up again, but for now have fun and I hop you enjoy the update

Kedar watched in fascinated surprise as Rhios' body started to... melt? into a far more serpentine figure; the Naga within him showing for this aspect of life giving. Rhios had never before shifted into his Naga form in front of Kedar, so he was surprised by the changes... Rhios was now around 40 feet in length, his tail long and currently filled with large ovoid shapes. Far more than he was expecting to see at all, he was expecting to see one shape as he knew he had a sibling coming soon. So many though were not prepared for! And his skin was now black scales with what appeared to be starry silver, purple and blue undertones throughout. The green of Rhios' eyes had bled out and completely covered the whites of his eyes.

Kedar had only a moment to think of this when he realized what this could all mean and hastily cast a quick spell-set at Jack. Her memories of Rhios changing were muffled, and she was sent to join the children in the ship; which was in itself lit up and magicked against the Dark creatures of this world. While he would have been happy for her help, he did not want to put her life in danger for Rhios was sending wave after pulsing wave of magic into the air, and already his transformation was furthering itself.

Now the Daeva was showing itself into his transformation Rhios' Crystalline wings had reappeared, though now they were bleeding black shadows from every inch without in anyway obscuring the wings or the male himself; while his legs had long blended into his powerful serpentine tail, his fingers were more talons than anything else.

Kedar took a deep breath looked around himself at the small home they were in and shudderingly released a sigh before swiftly gathering up as much of his Bearer as he could and running with him towards what had once been the 'city hall' of this settlement. It was the largest building of the lot and with as many shapes as were in that tail, they would need all the space they could get. He settled Rhios quickly and harness Rhios' wildly pouring magic to prepare the area, banishing furniture and dirt from the place and softening the ground as to cause no harm to Bearer or eggs. Briefly as Kedar turned to aid Rhios he wondered if the human adults would return soon, and hoped they would take a while... this would need all of his attention.

Riddick was getting frustrated with these humans but for the most part hiding it well; He was dragging the entirety of the batteries and still leading the entire group... while the others were mumbling curses and complaints while following him... were these idiots too stupid to remember that these creatures worked off smell and sound?

He had started ignoring Johns after the creature had taken out the sled; he had other things to do than play games with the Merc.

Like getting back to kitten.

So he had to admit he was a bit surprised when to his left and a little behind himself there was a bright flash of light and then a sudden uproar from the annoyances that followed behind him. With a sudden halt he had them quickly silenced and with a single glare and jerk of the head he had them following again… despite his desperate urge to just ice them all. He had to get back.

Kedar was cursing as he carried off his bearer, while mentally praising Mother-Magic for allowing his species to be so physically able and that his bearer had at least enough mental fortitude left that he was not attacking him for touching him whilst in the pains of Clutching.

Things had been going well when unexpectedly they had discovered that while they had set up a perimeter that the beasts could not pass while they were there, they had not bothered to check for tunnels leading into their planned nesting grounds.

When the first Flyer had entered they had had the misfortune to lose their sacrifice Johns to the beast. Kedar had quickly killed it found the Tunnel he had assumed it came from and sealed it off. Quickly returning to Rhios' side thinking the problem solved he had ignored the torn tattered body of Johns and started the desperate attempt to break through to his bearer in order to get a different sacrifice…

After a time Rhios understood and with a Dark flash the annoying Human Paris? was with them. This was when Kedar found his mistake about not searching the rest of the building for further holes leading outside. Paris also fell swiftly to the ground, now headless under the body of a flyer.

Kedar used this as an opportunity to grab his Bearer and get the Helion out of dodge. Quickly he used his magic to search the buildings ahead of him as he ran, desperately looking for even one that was secure enough to allow him to defend his bearer and siblings. Finally in the next to last building that was left in the little village he found what he was looking for and bolted within with Rhios.

Staggering to gently set down his Bearer he allowed his mind to turn feral and faced the only opening that his bearers magic did not cover… he would not allow his bearer; His FAMILY to die in this place, he would not be alone.

Jack sat quietly with the other children, she was freaking out; she didn't know how she had gotten here. Last she remembered she had been gathering some water to help Rhios with… but then suddenly she was here in the dim light of the ship with the two boys she hadn't bothered to get to know particularly well.

All she could think of were the chirrups and wails echoing around them, and while the boys were huddling together she was afraid to move at all. Her instincts were urging her to hide and to strike hard. But she had never felt such things before and her mind was frantic, nearly hysterical to escape while knowing that until Riddick came back there was no escape available. The more she tried to calm down the more worked up she became. Finally a whimpering whisper came from her lips, so quiet that the boys did not notice it, even as they had not noticed her. "Please get back soon."

Riddick was getting frustrated; they were nearly halfway back when Paris let out a loud cry. Glancing back he noticed then man was gone, grimly he turned forward and surged towards where the ship lay. He would make it out of here!

At a little past the three quarter mark Frye also let out a cry, and he simply kept forward… it was just him and Imam now, he knew. They would make it. He would not die here!!

Jack's mind was trying to fill in her memory as to how she got here. Making up images of Kedar being attacked; Rhios telling her to run whilst behind her she heard him cry out in pain as she ran cowardly away towards her own safety.

She was so lost in her own terror and self-hate that she didn't even notice the tears running down her face and the snot from her nose. Desperately she just tried to breathe and calm her mind, getting so lost in her own psyche that she didn't even notice that the memories weren't actually real. And so falling into more and more self-hatred.

Finally a Finale

Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notes

Kedar was less than pleased at the state of his bearer. He had been spending far too much magic to the lead up of his labor, and his ascendence was at the worst time ever also, but all he could do now was be there for him, and pray that his bearer's mate would not die at that point. He sighed and went back to the rituals he was cobbling together, whilst ignoring the body of the unconscious Paris.

He had to give all of hos focus to what he was doing, The Daeva wouldn't survive without a proper shell to mature in and he prayed the other four siblings wouldn't have any other such needs... he had nowhere to get them now. Covered in sweat, grime and blood of several types he just prayed to his grand-creator Chaos that they would all survive this night relatively intact.

COV

Riddick was surprised at how well Imam was keeping up with him, and keeping the light on his back. in honesty he had been expecting the man to fall behind and die a ways ago. He cast a gaze back and was surprised to see he was completely focused on his tasks, and showed no sign of faltering. A small grin tugged at his lips as he turned back towards the ship. His little one awaited him and he felt a strange pulling to verify he was okay...

COV

A great pulling was wrenching through his guts, and the magic was burning through his body, covered in sweat and noting that Shazza had been pulled into a shell for new life, he continued the pushing feeling as if he was dissolving in acid. Mentally he was little more than an animal, but he was an animal in distress; where was his mate? what had happened that his mate wasn't here to guard him in his time of weakness and vulnerability? he cast aside his thoughts and started pooling his magic to cast the strongest protections he could manage, His young and he must survive until the alpha could return to them... they must endure.

COV

Hassan was relieved, finally Imam had returned with Riddick! a great smile erupted on his face, until he realized none of the others had returned with them, he sent searching glances out to see if the others had simple fallen behind. It was not so. His smile fell sadly at this. Then his attention fell to Jack, further showing sadness at the state she had fallen to in what he could only assume to be her grief.

As he watched, he saw Riddick grow tense, his jaw locking in what looked like rage, yet somehow gave the impression of pain and loss. Riddick dropped the reins of the power cell once they were in the ship, and rushed forward to Jack, gripped her shoulders and lightly shook her until she looked him in the eyes, and demanded to know what had happened to Rhios.

COV

Jack was looking Riddick in the eye as she shuddered, tears still streaming down her face that was in turns flushed and pale. "I was getting water for 'im, when i turned around there was this giant snake THING! it ate him while Kedar fought off a bunch of those flying monsters... sob... Kedar

got me out and then went back after them... neither of them came back...sob."

The expression that crossed Riddick's face was... nightmarish, mixtures of rage, roaring grief, despair, and something that could only be called War. Riddick said nothing at first, then he turned and stepped out of the ship, before pausing and calling back "I'll be back, Jack get those Batteries put in and wait for me."

COV

Riddick had been called a beast since he was born, he had done many things in many worlds, and he had always been a little wild while he traveled. but nothing had ever risen emotions as tearingly destructive as these... he ran towards where he knew the birthing chambers of his little one had been. He did not know if he actually expected to find them there, but he could not just take the word of a near hysterical little girl. He had to try.

Quickly he reached the door and was unhappy to see the door was torn to pieces there was a lot of blood, splashed all over, signs of fighting, a few dead bodies... and a dragging mark on the floor leading out towards another building. Giving him some small measure of hope, he rushed to follow it, smelling the faint traces of blood in the rain.

He took down two of the larger fliers as he ran by, he had no time to put up a real fight right now, he just wanted them out of the way. He reached the building and felt his hope crushed. there was more blood, and nothing alive left here... His little one was dead. Riddick's emotions were in severe turmoil, he had only met Rhios less than 30 hours ago... but never had ne felt that kind of connection before, nothing and no one had simply slid through his walls like they were illusions before... and already he had lost him like he had lost everyone else he had ever cared for.

He turned in utter turmoil, two swift tears sneaking down his face as he ran himself back to the ship that would carry him from this planet that had given him a rare and unique opportunity before taking it all away again. He quickly reached they ship, all signs of his tears washed away by the rain. Grim faced, he stiffly checked the connections of the batteries, sealed the door, and lifted off.

He said nothing as he left the atmosphere... and no other dared to say anything either, his Aura gave no allowance for such things.

COV

Imam watched the back of Riddick's chair, feeling a bit sad for the man, he was wrought with tension, and subtly showing signs of real grieving.

He hunched himself closer to his apprentices, unable to help but send his prayers up in thanks that they had survived the planet. Then he sent prayers for the souls of all that could not leave the surface of that cruel harsh world...

COV

Behind them, the planet they left Gave off a large flash... and then disappeared... they escapees never knew, they could not bear to look back at the planet that took so much from them.

Chapter End Notes

Sorry this didn't get here sooner... actually thought that I had posted it already...

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Watching Sorrow

The Why

The Jump and Sight

Striking Deals and Teasing Thoughts

Dark Rituals and Power Gaps

Odd Children and Magics Bonds

Sudden Shocks and Painful Choices

Pulling Together and Hidden Sides

Hopeful Dreams and Hasty Words

Meeting Children and Giving Names

Finding Strangers and Flying Cats

Pretty Kitties and Stupid Mercs

Deeply Instinctive and Spying Angrily

Falling Feral and Angry Introductions

Wearily Walking and Warily Watching

Colorful Changes and Playful Partings

View Points and Intuitive Insights

Gathering Gear and Recovered Remembrances

Aerial Displays and Falling Footwear

Psyche's Folly and Many Minor Mistakes

Finally a Finale