Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

She hated this, ever since he found her on Crematoria he's plagued her mind. All the ways it could have gone different. She dreamed of him slamming her into the bars again, how easily he lifted her, his arm pressed between her legs. It left her tossing and turning under the covers. It didn't help that they were crammed into a hot motel room on a shit hole of a planet laying low. There was one bed and Riddick lay next to her on his back completely unmoving. Kyra was sure he wasn't asleep though.

Her suspicious were confirmed when his voice cut through the silence, "What's wrong Kyra?"

"Nothing, I just need to get some air," Kyra muttered tossing aside the thin sheet and sitting up right. She got silence in return so she pulled on a pair of pants and laced her boots. When she stood she found him standing in front of her, "What?"

"You're stayin' here," he said simply.

He didn't like it anymore than she did, the close quarters was driving him insane. She'd get caught by Mercs. Until he could secure a ship, she needed to stay here. It was making him irritable, so did her constant squirming, and pacing. It had steadily been getting worse. She also had another scent to her that was driving him insane. One he wasn't willing to acknowledge.

"Riddick, I will literally LOSE my fuckin' mind if I don't get out of here," Kyra insisted.

"You want some air? Open the fuckin' window, but you're not going anywhere, so sit down and shut up, we'll have a ship tomorrow," Riddick snapped.

"Make me," Kyra replied.

Riddick was quiet and slowly he tilted his head to the side and raised his eyebrow, his eyes flashing in what little light they had. Neither of them moved. It was a silent invitation for her to just try and move passed him. She considered her options, she wasn't going to make it THROUGH him, her best bet was to jump over the bed and try to make it to the door before him.

She tried that approach, and she'd just been about to grab the handle and she found herself thrown into the door. His forearm was pushed into the back of her neck, her own hands braced against the door. She swallowed hard highly aware of how close he was. This did nothing to help, and in fact only made her want him that much more. They were frozen in that spot, he didn't move and neither did she.

"Kyra...go sit down," he growled and she shuddered involuntarily as his lips were far too close to her ear.

He could smell the arousal on her, it was overwhelming. If he moved he was afraid he'd do something he'd regret.

"I'm leaving whether you like it or not," she breathed out after a moment.

Riddick flipped her around and slammed her back into the door and stared her down, "Do you WANT to get picked up by Mercs?" Riddick demanded narrowing his eyes, her eyes immediately turned from his but he gripped her jaw and forced her to look back at him. It was a mistake, her pupils were dark with lust as she stared back.

He didn't secure her hands, she had his blade in her hand and she pressed it to his abdomen. His eyebrow raised slowly, "I'm not going to get caught, I can take care of myself, let me go" she replied.

The world around her shifted and she was on the floor, the blade wrenched from her hands and pressed to her throat, he was poised over top of her, "Careful Kyra."

"Why? you gonna kill me Riddick?" She demanded only causing him to press the blade into her throat more a line of blood trickling from the superficial wound he caused. Riddick was an expert with his weapon, he wouldn't kill her on accident. He drew blood when he wanted, and as much or a little as he wanted.

"Remember who you're fuckin' with, Jack." he growled.

He used Jack very deliberately. She flinched a little and glared up at him. The blade didn't move still pressed tightly against her skin, and then it was gone. She watched him bring the blade to his mouth and lick her blood from it. Her eyes were transfixed on the way his tongue ran slow up the blade. She could tell he was staring at her. It was either an intimidation tactic or he was deliberately teasing her, and honestly...it was more likely the latter. He didn't need intimidation tactics with her, she knew what he was capable of.

"Don't call me that," She said after an awkwardly long pause, her voice didn't even have as much conviction in it as she'd have liked.

Maybe he shouldn't tease her, he definitely shouldn't have tasted her blood. Now he wanted more, watching her all but panting beneath him did nothing to quell his need. He didn't move as his mind debated on how to handle this. He wanted nothing more than to make her scream, but she was Jack, no matter how she told him she was Kyra. He still remembered the little frightened girl disguised as a boy. She'd certainly grown up...a lot...but...he wasn't used to moral debates. He usually just took what he wanted. She was right...they both could stand to get out of there.

It was hard to read him, but for an awkwardly long time neither of them moved. Was that lust in his silvery eyes? She couldn't tell. She wanted to test this theory but Riddick was standing up now and he pulled her up with him.

"Let's go," Riddick said shortly.

"Where are..." she gave him an odd look at his sudden change of heart.

"You want to get out we'll go out," Riddick said tersely.

"Really?" She arched an eyebrow, "Because it really looked like you wanted to stay in."

Riddick's gaze cut to her but he remained silent. They bore into her in a manner that made her shift nervously in place. When neither of them moved Kyra reached out and toyed with his belt but held his gaze. Her heart was in her throat, she could feel it hammering away, a little afraid she'd read him wrong.

Riddick moved swiftly, grabbing her hand twisting it behind her back and pinning her to the wall face first, "Don't go there," Riddick growled his lips now touching her ear making her shiver. One of his hands gripped her hip so tight she knew it would bruise.

"Why are you gonna act like you don't want me?" Kyra demanded attempting to squirm in his grasp to look at him but to no avail.

"Been couped up too long and so have you," he replied, trying to convince himself THAT was the reason.

"Maybe you're right," He wasn't, "Maybe We can head to the bar across the street and I'll just find a random guy to fuck, that should help."

He growled and his grip on her actually became painful enough to make her squeak. He was about to respond when someone pounded on the door. He let her go immediately and grabbed his blade and eased the door open as he stood behind it.

"Um...Hello..." a young male voice called out and he was met with a blade at her throat, "Oh hey there you are, easy buddy...I um...just dropped by to tell you I got the ship earlier than expected, you can't leave tonight."

"That easy?" Riddick arched an eyebrow.

"For you yes, for me...there's a little blood on my hands but I like you...and you scare me a little so, I was willing to get my hands dirty," He was young, to the casual observer he appeared harmless. He was slender, large blue eyes, a mop curly brown hair and freckles that danced across his nose and round cheeks. Riddick didn't fall for his innocent facade though. The boy was ruthless, it was kind of impressive, but that meant this was likely a set up.

"You settin' me up?" He demanded.

"What? N-no, come on man, I'd never sell out one of my pals," he swallowed hard, "L-look I'm alone, completely unarmed, I can show you the ship right now."

Riddick look back at Kyra, who'd drawn to the back of the room, he was tempted to tell her to stay here but that would leave her alone. He jerked his head towards the door. The boy looked surprised blinking rapidly, "Sorry man, didn't realize you had a young lady with you...I didn't mean to interrupt..."

"Shut up," Riddick snapped.

"Shutting up," He replied swiftly his eyes darting to Kyra once more.

The trip was tense, there was silence between all three of them, but the young boy's eyes kept bouncing between the pair. Every once in a while he'd open his mouth to speak and then think better of it and close it.

The ship was in decent condition and first Riddick examined the outside, "Stay here," Riddick demanded, "Kyra if he moves, kill him."

"Got it," Kyra smirked at the boy, and drew her own blade out.

"Is he naturally mistrusting or...?" the boy started chatting as Riddick moved away.

Kyra only stared back at him, her head only turned from him when she heard a loud thunk and a person fell backwards on the ramp, "I-I'm a mechanic I work for Joshua...I was just checking to make sure everything worked..."

"Whoa hey easy big guy, that's the best mechanic I got right there," the boy...Joshua protested holding up his hands.

"Probably shoulda told me he was in there, lucky I didn't gut him where he stood," Riddick growled.

"I didn't know!" Joshua insisted.

"I-I just wanted to make sure it was running right before you handed it over," The older mechanic swallowed hard.

"And?" Riddick crossed his arms.

"E-everything looks good, the previous owners kept it in top shape," he stuttered out.

"Good, get out," Riddick snapped, "Kyra let's go."

She flashed a smirk at Joshua who waved cheerfully...too cheerfully. Something was a little off but they were in no position to refuse. When Riddick sat down he ran his own diagnostic of the ship. Just like the Mechanic said it was in excellent shape.

"He won't be able to tell a thing," The Mechanic told Joshua.

"Good," he smiled.

"You know it could take awhile, if he never..."

"Patience is a virtue, and the next planet he can refuel at is quite a ways away, it'll work, eventually," Joshua assured him darkly watching them depart.

Chapter Text

They say most of your brain shuts down in cryo-sleep.
All but the primitive side, the animal side.
No wonder I'm still awake.

Even now I could smell her, her scent wrapped around me and suffocated me until she was the only thing I could smell. Jack was the young girl I rescued off of that planet. Jack was the girl I left behind, and when I came back, Jack was gone. Kyra was left in her place. She was right in some respects, Kyra was an entirely new animal, but me? I was the same animal.

The alarms blared as Riddick began to become fully aware again, his eyes darted around a moment trying to grasp the situation. He was still sitting in the pilot's chair, he stretched a little and started at the panel before him.

Proxmity Alert, Proximity Alert Impact estimated in 180 seconds, please alter your course. Dangerous impact is imminent. Alert, Alert approaching at dangerous speeds, Alert, Alert impact is imminent, Please alter your course.

Riddick immediately grabbed the wheel to manually change the course but it didn't budge, an error message appeared on his screen. Error: Destination locked, to alter, please enter passcode.

"Son of a bitch," he said lowly.

"Riddick? What's going on? Are we going to crash again?" Kyra frowned.

"We got fucked over," Riddick growled, trying a few more things but the Error message remained flashing large and red, "Should have gutted him when I had the chance."

She frowned her bleary eyes taking in the scene, her legs still a little wobbly. She could only hope there weren't man-eating aliens on this planet. She peered out of the front at the planet fast approaching, it looked green and blue with swirls of thick clouds. She squinted though, it seemed there was a large chunk that was black and brown, dead looking compared to the rest of the vibrant-looking sphere.

Riddick growled slamming his fist on the console, finally giving up on trying to unlock it, he stood, "There should be an escape pod in the back," he had a sneaking suspicion there wouldn't be.

Proxmity Alert, Proximity Alert Impact estimated in 90 seconds, please alter your course. Dangerous impact is imminent. Alert, Alert approaching at dangerous speeds, Alert, Alert impact is imminent, Please alter your course.

He made his way further into the ship, with Kyra not far behind him. He found the escape pod door but as he expected, there was no escape pod there, just a door that led to nowhere.

"What now?" Kyra frowned peering up at Riddick with concern.

"We brace for impact," Riddick told her.

There were seats a bit further back in the ship lining the wall. They were made for passengers. Riddick sat down and one and Kyra took a seat to the left of him. There a hard thump as if the ship had hit something and then the ride became extremely rough, nearly tossing Kyra out of her seat. She used her legs to steady herself, before strapping herself in, as Riddick did the same.

Proxmity Alert, Proximity Alert! Entering Atmo, Impact estimated in 30 seconds, please brace for impact. Dangerous impact is imminent. Alert, Alert approaching at dangerous speeds, Alert, Alert impact is imminent, Please brace for impact.

Riddick looked surprisingly calm, beneath his dark goggles his eyes were closed and he sat back. Kyra watched him envious at how he could keep his cool in a situation like this. Riddick was surprisingly level-headed in situations where most people were terrified. Kyra could pretend to be cool, but the fear in her was real.

, Alert, Alert! Impact estimated in 10 seconds, please brace for impact. Dangerous impact is imminent. Alert, Alert approaching at dangerous speeds, Alert, Alert impact is imminent, Please brace for impact.

Riddick leaned forward tucking his head and covering it with his hands. The overhead voice began to count down from ten now. Kyra mimicked his posture. Feet flat on the ground, head bent forward protected by her hands. Time seemed to slow, it was like the space between the seconds grew longer and longer the closer they came to impact.

Suddenly the world exploded around them, everything jerked and jarred and twisted. Surprisingly there wasn't as much damage done as one would have expected. At least that's way Kyra thought until the water started spraying in from the damaged hull.

Riddick sat up and immediately started laughing as he unbuckled his seatbelt, "Keeps gettin' better and better," he rumbled standing up.

The ship swayed as the water poured into the ship. Clearly, they'd landed in the water, it was good and bad. There was no way to tell how far they were from land until the got out of the ship and they had to act fast to make sure they still could get out, or if the water was particularly deep, the water pressure could trap them inside until it filled all the way up.

"Let's go, Kyra, now," Riddick said firmly as she stood with him.

He moved towards the escape pod door, it was flashing brightly a sign lit up over it read 'Exit here in case of emergency.' He wasn't sure how much of the ship was submerged already, "Hold on to me," he told Kyra, who did as she was told clasping his wrist.

He pushed the door open and water rushed in. Riddick held fast to the frame of the door. More Alerts were going off but the sound was being swallowed up by the water. He held his breath and tossed Kyra out ahead of him before launching himself out. He broke the surface but kept swimming away from the ship as it sunk, he didn't want to be yanked under with it. His muscles worked straining against the undertow, he was glad Kyra was ahead of him. She started to turn and look behind herself...looking for him, "Move your ASS, Kyra!" Riddick called out.

Finally, Riddick felt the pull easy up and he turned around now far enough away to watch the last bit of the ship disappear below the surface. He was treading water now, taking in his surroundings, luckily the shore wasn't so far off. Riddick guessed that landing in the water was done on purpose to cushion the landing.

Somehow, he knew this wasn't going to be a simple, find a ship and escape. They were sent there for a reason, this wasn't any prison that he recognized, he didn't want to hazard a guess as to what kinda mess they were thrown into. All he knew is once he got off this godforsaken planet, he was gonna gut that boy like a pig.

The stepped onto the black sand beach, Riddick dumping salty water out of his goggles. The sun was high so he had to replace them back on his face. Everything was too quiet and serene. The breeze was cool, gently blowing through the bluish tinted trees. Despite the warmth of the water, Kyra stood shivering next to Riddick, her arms wrapped tightly around herself.

A crackle of leaves made Riddick's head snap up, and draw his blade. A strange mechanical smell filled the air nearly hidden by the smell of salt water. The horizon rippled strangely, and suddenly ten armed men appeared. They wore a metallic white looking, mechanical armor that covered them from head to toe, all the faces hidden by helmets with silver tinted visors, "You must be Riddick...Welcome to Nostrovia, Keep your hands where I can see them!"