Hi, everyone. To everyone confused as to why I took the original one down on , I wanted to completely redo what I had and it wasn't working out for me. This is a bit of a rewrite and continuation. Ta da.
Blood will come. No matter what she did, she knew that well. She barely had control of her dark element, she knew she couldn't save most. While she knew Johns was going to die by Riddick's hand, Lucia could only hope that she lived long enough to see Derek die by Eric's.
Lucia was many things, called even more, but she never was that optimistic enough to be named such. She saw the world for what it was most days, reality wasn't the shit torn from the pages of story books. She was sure if it were, then sometime within the span of her life she would've discovered happily ever after. Even if the idiot was trapped in the ground somewhere. So, when she says that she was semi-hopeful of her survival chances due to Eric and Riddick's presence… Well, that could actually be a lie. The only things she wished to see were both of the Mercs' deaths before the reaper claimed her.
Jack, however, was tough and would live to see the next movie at the very least. The little girl in disguise was resourceful, there was no doubt that she would be just fine.
Shaking her head to clear it, Lucia went back inside after a few hours of teaching Jack. "-If they're gone, they're gone. Why should they… bother us?" Paris looked terrified, like the little mouse that he was, eyeing Johns for the answers that would make him feel better. No such luck.
Said merc was just putting a gun in the back of his belt. "Maybe to take what you got…" He closed the little box that once held the gun, caressing the metal underneath his fingertips like a lover, "Maybe to work your nerves…"
"…Or maybe, they just wanna come back to kill ya in yer sleep." finished Derek with a smirk, watching as Paris paled even more and gulped saliva.
"They sound charming." Shazza cut in sarcastically.
Lucia snorted, " Or maybe they just wanna hug you to death." Words heavy with a sarcastic edge and everyone glanced her way at her voice. Jack snickered, her lips lifting on one side to show her amusement. The two mercs glared at the child.
"You won't be laughing when you wake up dead the next morning." Lucia opened her mouth to retort but Jack grabbed her arm making her look down. The young girl shook her head in a silent plea. Huffing, she kept her mouth and walked back outside.
The other survivors followed, all with some sort of weapon in hand. Johns and Derek went to climb up the crash ship, scouting with binoculars; tag teaming different areas. Shazza and Zeke pulled a makeshift table from the ship and placed several items on top of it. Afterwards, they started making breathers. Lucia watched them from where she sat against the hull of the ship, watching the sunset. Lucia saw Jack nod to something Shazza said. She stood up and walked over to her.
"What are you making?" Lucia asked quietly, despite already knowing it and Shazza glanced at her for a long moment of surprise.
"How long have you-"
"I don't know what you're talking about." She uttered cheekily in Italian, making Shazza blink at her before speaking again.
"We're making breathers. To make it easier to breathe the air since it's so thin," she explained, making the younger woman hum in response. "Here. This is for you," The settler offered, holding out a breather. Smiling, Lucia took it and tied it to her waist. She stuck the mouthpiece in her mouth and sucked in a gush of air. Relief rushed through her when she felt her lungs take in the air, her chest felt a lot less tight already.
"Thank you." She winked before moving on, eyeing those around her. She knew what would happen next. The group would split up and two people would die. Lucia recalled some parts of the movie but her mind wasn't sure of what would happen next. It could have all changed with the coming of Blade and Derek and her here.
She bit her lip as her thoughts strayed to her previous questions. How did Blade get here? How did she get here? So many questions came and not one of them could be answered, that she got a small headache from thinking of them. Grumbling, she rubbed the side of her head; undecided if she would ever get the answers her soul craved.
"Excuse me," Paris panted for much needed breath as he leaned on his scythe-like weapon and tried to get some air in his lungs again, pausing everyone to look over at him. "I think you should see this." He recommended while lazily pointing behind him for a moment with his thumb.
Everyone followed him to the back of the ship. Everyone except Lucia. She sat back down against the side of the ship. Her mind was thinking of how she could rescue Zeke. The only option she saw was staying here. She pouted at that conclusion. She had wanted to see that boneyard, she remembered it in the movies. What she wouldn't have given to see the mountain bones in person.
'Can't have everything, girl.' she scoffed to herself and then thought further to the rest of the movie. With Blade here, things could have changed in the future. For the better or worse, she didn't know. She hoped it was for the best but she was still worried, that the other Riddick movies would never happen.
She shook her head and stood up before walking over to the rest of the group. "-So much for my cocktail hour," stated Paris sarcastically, making Lucia glance over at him. Paris always came off as such an alcoholic... He probably was.
Everyone was with sour faces except for Imam and his boys. They were smiling. She knew why. "We take this as a good sign." he said "A path, direction from Allah. Blue sun, blue water." continued the man, while pointing towards the blue sun.
"Ever wondered why I'm an atheist?" retorted Zeke sarcastically, making Lucia snort quietly in amusement. Though she had to agree with him. Imam was a little bit too optimistic about this; even though he had every reason to be.
Johns and Derek came over to the group, with awareness cast in their orbs. "It's a bit of a bad sign. That's Riddick and Blade's direction." commented Johns.
"Yeah, wouldn't be too smart to go that way with them bastards nearby. They're probably laying down an ambush or somethin'." added Derek.
Paris once again lost his color. Lucia glanced over at him and wondered how much color that guy could lose before it became permanent.
"I thought you found their restraints over there, towards sunset," Shazza pointed out while nodding her head in the direction.
Johns glanced at her for a moment and nodded "Right. Which means they went towards sunrise," he said in a clipped tone, walking away. The man strode over to Zeke and gave him his gun, while explaining how to use it.
"Don't tell me you're goin'-" Zeke cut himself off with a grimace.
"Yeah."
"Wait, what happens if Mr. Riddick or Mr. Blade spots us first?" interrupted Paris, sounding a bit worried. Johns smirked at him, before glancing over at Derek who also grinned.
"Then there will be no shots." said Johns simply. The group then talked over who would go to scout.
"I believe it would be a good idea if my sons and I go with you." spoke Imam to Johns who glanced over at him and nodded.
"Can I come?" Jack questioned excited, earning a stare from Johns before a shrug came. Shazza placed a hand on Jack's shoulder, gentle-like.
"I don't think so, hun. I might need ya with the repairs." the woman uttered, making Jack pout.
Lucia knew she wouldn't be going, not with Derek possibly going as well, so she moved away from the group to go into the cargo hold. She started looking for bodies, which wasn't hard and Zeke helped only after a little while, like she knew he would. She eyed how Shazza walked away from the group with Jack in tow as the two went to go see what they could repair. Paris went inside the ship to do who-knows-what.
Derek walked over to Lucia and wrapped an arm around her waist. "Don't ya worry, toots, I'll be stayin' right here to keep ya safe." the man crooned.
This guy really couldn't take a hint.
Her lip curled in disgust before pulling away from him with a smack at his arm before continuing with the task at hand, leaving him to frown at her back. Zeke and Lucia talked about it and decided to split up. Zeke would look for bodies in the ship and she would go looking for bodies around it.
She went around the ship, searching all over the place for dead bodies. She found a few behind them and though she knew what to expect, she was nonetheless a bit perturbed by how they looked.
Scattered onto hot sand with cold contrasting skin, the sight before her was one Lucia would remember for years to come if she lived that long. It was the first time she ever witnessed death of this magnitude. Some of them had a single limb torn off, others were half burned and some had been pierced by a piece of metal that still stuck out of their bodies. Her stomach warped when she laid her orbs upon a body with a piece of metal stuck through his eye and a missing jaw. The tongue was clearly visible.
"Luckily I haven't eaten yet or I would've lost it." she mumbled disgustedly. She dragged all those corpses to the front where Zeke loaded them on a make-shift cart and pulled them towards the spires.
Eventually her search brought her behind the cargo hold. "No bodies here." she mumbled and turned around only to gasp when she came face to, well, chest with Derek. Instinctively, she took a step back and glared at him.
Annoyance flickered over his face for a moment before he stepped closer. She took a step back yet again and continued until this little game brought her back against the hull of the container. Derek came closer until he was inches away from her, a nasty smile was on his face. Growling, she pushed against his chest, trying to get some space between them but failed.
"Now, now, toots , why push me away? Ya know ya want me." he said in a seductive voice. "And don't pretend you don't know exactly what I'm saying. I heard you speak English just now."
She grimaced, "Great, how whatever that we have our working ears on. Since you hear so well, let's get you a gold star later. In the meantime, I'll be over there-" She pointed to the left of them, where nothing but sandy dunes were, "until I die in that little ditch. At least then I would escape you ." she spat, making Derek growl. He grabbed her by her throat with one hand and squeezed.
Gasping, she struggled to get his hand off of her neck. His grip wasn't tight and for a moment she wondered why that was. His next action revealed that. He kissed her roughly on the mouth and shoved his tongue past her lips.
"Mpf! Mmm!" she let out muffled protests, while she tried to push him away. She tried everything; kicking, clawing, hell, even biting enough to draw blood. His tongue thankfully pulled out of her cavern by that last action. His free hand went to her stomach and crept under her shirt and upwards to her breasts.
Suddenly, someone hit the hull of the container, making both Derek and Lucia jump in surprise. The former pulled his mouth off of hers and looked towards where the noise came from. Nothing to be seen.
He let go of her "This ain't over yet, toots. I'll be right back," he told her, pulling a gun out of its strap on his left thigh and cocked it. Lucia watched with a glare as the man walked to the end of the container and disappeared around the corner.
The moment he was out of sight, she spat on the ground in an attempt to get the taste of him off of her tongue. It wouldn't be the first time some fucker thought he had the right to her body, it surely wouldn't be the last.
Welp, there goes that element of surprise with the Mercs.
She then sighed in relief at finally being left alone, closing her eyes at the same time. When she opened them she gasped, for Blade stood right in front of her not two feet away. "Eh," she swallowed, "Hi?" The closeness made her a bit uncomfortable. Blade hummed and watched her like a hawk. "Not much of a talker, are you?" She spoke again and bit her lip.
Blade's lips twitched upwards for a moment, but fortunately for him, she didn't notice it. After a long moment of silence and no answer, she grew annoyed. She said: " Look, either you say something or you leave me alone, but just standing there staring at me is creeping me out ."
Blade smirked, at the thought of getting under her skin so easily if the dead language passing through her lips was any indication. "Seems your encounter with that fucker hasn't dulled that sharp tongue of yours."
Lucia smiled, "Ah, the statue speaks ." she joked and it made Blade's lips twitch upwards in a smile again. This time though, she noticed. "And he smiles too … Who would've thought?"
Blade's smirk disappeared and he scowled, shaking his head before growling at her roughly. "You should watch out to whom you speak like that. Not all of us find it funny, starlight ."
"Starlight, hm?" She rolled her eyes, " Twinkle, Twinkle, little- bitch!" She growled the last word when pain shot up from her foot before huffing and sitting down on her ass, ignoring the funny little fluttering in her stomach. "Look, not everybody has to like it. If they don't, they can stick their opinion right up their ass until they orgasm from it, okay? I'm not gonna change who I am because someone doesn't like it." She huffed once more before crossing her arms and looking away.
The convict shook his head, amused. This girl was getting more and more interesting by the minute. Not only was she an eye-catcher, she was also not shy with her words, daring to speak to the mercs like that. He found it intriguing and refreshing compared to how the others listened to the mercs, always at their beck and call. He took several gliding steps closer, until she was only a few inches away from him.
She gulped nervously. Did everyone like to invade my personal bubble or something? She took a shuddering breath and kept her eyes on his chest, trying to keep herself from drooling. Damn her hormones!
Blade smirked, as he could sense her uneasiness. Seemed she liked to talk big but became a little bit small when someone invaded her personal space. He leaned his head closer and sniffed, taking a deep breath of her smell. She smelled delicious; an interesting mix of cherries, cinnamon, lemons and sugared almonds. Her scent was enticing. Not only that, there was also another scent to her that neither he, nor Riddick, had ever smelled before. And no matter how many times he took her scent in, he just couldn't decide what it was. It was growing to be annoying at this point.
Lucia heard him sniff and knew he was sniffing her. She felt embarrassed again. When were these two gonna stop sniffing her? What were they? Dogs ?!
She placed her hands against his chest and pushed. Blade growled at the action but reluctantly allowed her to push him away. He wanted to keep smelling her. But he also knew that he needed to get out of here unless he wanted McCain catching him again.
He stared straight in her eyes, dark with just a little glimmer of shine that had nothing to do with the sun. Interesting. "Until next time, astra." he told her with a wolfish smile and strolled off.
She took a shaky breath and fanned herself with her hand. "If only they weren't so hot." she muttered, before looking around to pull out the sopping wet dildo out of her. The feeling of Derek McCain touching her while it lay within her made her feel disgusting. She pulled her pants back up, dropped the toy into the little backpack that she acquired and stumbled away quickly when she remembered that Derek was still around here. She didn't need another collision with the man.
She came back around the container just in time to see Zeke aim at a man standing in front of the entrance of the container. "No!" she screamed, but it was too late. Zeke fired three shots and the man fell down to the ground, dead. She brought her hands to her mouth.
"God damnit." She whispered to herself because damnit Lucia actually forgot about him; before she ran over to the rest, as they all stared at the newest dead body on the ground. Jack cried out, because Paris had pulled her back in surprise. Lucia glanced over at Shazza and saw that the woman was covered in the man's blood, with her eyes wide and in shock.
"It was just somebody else." said Jack after a moment of shock, a hint of tremor in his voice. "It was just somebody else from the crash!" The words came louder while staring at Zeke. Said man lowered his gun, in shock himself.
Derek walked over to them and stopped with a whistle. "Poor guy. But at least one of ya knows what to do when facing those bastards," commented the man airily. Lucia's gaze snapped towards him and she glared.
"Insensitive bastard!" she hissed angrily.
"Crikey! I thought it was him. I thought it was Riddick." said Zeke half out of breath which, respectfully, was stupid. Riddick didn't even have the same build as this guy, all that tanned muscle that she had under her fingertips testified to that, and Riddick is bald… this guy had hair. Lucia guessed that the mercs' were at fault for it because they kept talking about fearing Riddick and Eric. This man's death probably would have still happened, just not here… not like this.
Lucia snorted in disbelief at what just transpired. Derek was talking to Shazza, acting like he was concerned for her, since she seemed to be in shock. Lucia's eyes fell to a figure sitting in the chair on top of the ship. A very familiar figure. 'Riddick.' Lucia couldn't help but be amused. He lifted his glass in a 'cheers' manner, making her grin in response with a slight dip of her head. She quickly turned around and hid her smile when Zeke addressed her.
"Come on, help me drag this guy to the sled." Guilty was laced in his words. Sighing, she nodded and grabbed the man's feet. The two went and dragged the body to the sled and dropped it on top of another body. Who could have been a father and husband was now added with the faceless deceased, how tragic.
Zeke then left to go to his wife and comforted her, while he helped her remove the blood. Lucia in turn went over to Jack and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, making Jack instantly turn to grab her shirt tight. "It was just somebody else from the crash," She whispered softly while Lucia gently played with her short hair.
After a moment of comforting Jack finally pried herself away from her. "You okay now, kid?" she asked, worried for this would not be the last death that they would witness and Jack gave her a smile.
"Yeah, thanks." Jack told her, a bit embarrassed.
"You're welcome," The words came with underlying amusement before Lucia walked away towards where once the sled stood. Blinking, she looked around and then glanced over to the spires. She saw Zeke pulling the sled slowly but surely and was actually already quite a ways away.
Her mind went to the memory of the movie and what would happen next; of how he would be dragged down into the darkness to the hungry bloodlust that awaited him. Quickly she ran after him, only to fall out of breath as quickly as she left. Cursing the thin air she breathed and the pain at her foot, Lucia took a few hits from her breather and caught up with him with blood filling her shoe.
She smiled when he glanced at her and held out her hand. "Why don't you give me a rope? It'll be easier to pull the sled if we're with two." she told him.
Zeke nodded "Sure. Here ya go." he held out a rope and she took it. Both turned and started pulling the sled. Which seemed to go easier now that the weight was split in two.
While they were pulling the sled, Lucia tried to think of a way to save Zeke. But with each step they took towards the grave, the more she started to panic. 'What am I going to do? I can't just tell him to stay away because there are monsters down there. He'll never believe me… I wouldn't believe me.' she glanced at Zeke anxiously before turning her gaze back forward again. She had to try though, she remembered how he tried to help her and could only think of how heartbroken Shazza had been after his death… how she didn't listen to reason, or her instincts, that ultimately lead to her death. Depression came in many forms, and as Shazza had been carried away airborne into death's awaiting arms, Lucia could understand by she did it in the movie. For she would be reunited with Zeke once more.
Zeke pulled the sail away and glanced down into the pit. "What the-" The words caught her attention, making her glance down to the pit and acknowledge the hole. Zeke jumped down into the pit and pulled a small flashlight out of his pocket. He crouched down, ready to look inside.
Lucia panicked immediately, demanding for him to stop, which made him obey and turn to her.
"What's the matter?" he asked a bit surprised at her sudden outburst.
"Something made the hole, obviously." The Italian dared to utter, raising her voice with emphasis to get him to understand her concern, "Look at it. We are on an unknown planet, in the middle of the desert. I'd get back, if I were you."
He stared at her in confusion, as if he didn't comprehend her logic and it was making her annoyed. "Nothing has showed up-"
"That doesn't mean that nothing will ." She was exasperated at this point.
Zeke scoffed. "It's just a hole." he stated, at which she was about to open her mouth to protest, but knew it was no use. She closed it again and watched as Zeke shrugged and turned back to the hole.
"Well then why do you have to look into it?" Lucia grumbled to herself.
'Damnit! There's got to be something I can do?' she thought before she made a decision and jumped down into the pit. Zeke was already halfway into the hole, idiota . Faintly, she could hear a strange clicking sound and pulled him towards her with all her might, something inside her surged through her veins and outward, manipulating his shadow with ease that she hadn't expected. It was only just when Zeke was tugged out of range did a claw of those creatures appear with an angry clicking sound that sounded louder when the appendage hit the light. Zeke finally used the gun to pop off shots at the creature, unknowingly warning his wife of his distress. When he stopped and breathed deep, that was when Lucia finally spoke again
"You Idiota! You stupid pazzo motherfucker." Lucia raged as she kept hitting him in the arm closest to her. "It's just a hole, you said. Nothing has shown up, you said. Fucking idiot!" She pulled herself upright, standing tall over the man still looking at the hole before them with wide eyes. "You should be fucking careful from now on, Zeke… Morte will come, and heard il diavolo plays for keeps." She warned of death and the devil; whether the man actually takes her words as truth or not, is out of her hands now.
She crawled out of the hole, leaving him there, only to find Riddick standing at the top. Lucia stared at him, nodding to the side and telling him to go, to not get captured again but it's a little too late for that. Shazza is there, screaming Zeke's name and Lucia guessed that it finally snapped him out of his shock, again just a little too late.
"You-"
"Scusa." Lucia cut the settler woman off and throwing her thumb to point over her shoulder, "Your poco intelligente husband is right there." Good thing that in the face of all this stupidity, she didn't react too late. Idiots, the lot of them. Shazza didn't even ask where Zeke was before she started to accuse Riddick of his murder, which… kinda fair because Riddick was a criminal that both McCain and Johns did make everybody fear and Zeke was out of sight. That all factored in with how reactive Shazza seemed to be and - well, shit happens.
Lucia was still just a little bit stung by the fact that Zeke reacted the way he had, not factoring in logic for being a settler. Anyone knew that if you saw a hole, you don't go looking deep into it. The fact that he wrote her off without taking into consideration what she said kinda rubbed her the wrong way. She couldn't help it. She ignored the way the other woman ran past her to see for herself if Zeke was alright.
Riddick wasted no time running away then and she couldn't help but be thankful that he came in the first place, that he had the survival instincts to leave when she gestured for him too. Good, there was only so much stupidity she could handle one day.
Little did she want to acknowledge, however, was that the day was just getting started.
Hoped you like this one.