DISCLAIMER: I own no part of Riddick, Jack, Kira, or any part of Pitch Black and Chronicles of Riddick, I'm just writing this for my own enjoyment and that of those who read it. –JadeLuna 'I wondered why the Frisbee kept getting bigger, then it hit me.'

'You keep what you kill'

That was what they'd told me. I'd killed they're ruler which put me in his place. Great, that's the last thing I need, an entire army of re-programmed civilians. Not my style. That's when I remembered her, the woman made of air… Aereon I believe is what they called her. It made me laugh to see the hatred in the eyes of the commanding officer, the one who tried to kill him. All his planning shot to hell right before his own eyes simply because he moved to slow, hesitated, and in that one moment saw the downfall of his kind. I didn't know what the elemental would do with the army, frankly I didn't care. I had other matters to attend to.

That's how I found myself back here, on Helion Prime… the one place I knew they'd be looking for me. I figured that's where she'd want to be, so I found the nearest cemetery and buried her there. I figured I owed it to her, still can't believe she's gone, all my efforts to try to keep her protected and yet I still had to watch her die.

"Sorry kid" he seemed to almost growl the words as he tossed a handful of dirt onto the coffin. He stood there for another moment before turning on his heels and heading back to the skiff. He'd been here an hour already, he couldn't chance being here longer. As he opened the hatch door something made him stop. He sniffed the air and looked around him, pulling the shiv from a pocket in his cargo pants. As he stepped inside the skiff the smell flowed over him… a stranger… a woman… now his captive. Maybe today he'd spare her life… but then maybe he wouldn't.

"You just made the biggest mistake of your life…" he said in a low tone, almost inaudible. He knew where she was the moment he stepped foot inside, but he wanted to see how she'd handle the situation… see if she'd attack. He heard the rope the second it left her hands.

She'd been hiding in the skiff for about an hour now and the air was getting thick. "Jeez, what the fuck is taking so long" she whispered to herself. Just then the hydraulics on the door hissed and the daylight broke through. She heard the growled words, knew that he meant them. As she suddenly came to realize, she didn't have enough room to properly maneuver the rope, so she had to resort to using it whip style. She had it well wrapped around her hand for added grip, but when he raised his arm just in time to let the rope wind it's way around it, she knew she was dead. She felt the bones in her hand snap as the tension on the rope became tighter than anything she'd ever felt as he pulled her towards him. When the light caught the blade of the shiv, she knew if she didn't speak now, she'd never be able to again.

"You don't want to kill me Riddick!" she yelled just as the blade made contact with the flesh of her neck just under her chin. She'd stopped him with the sentence but she could feel the blade twitch with the tenseness in his arm at restraining himself.

"And just what gives you that idea" the words were not a question, they were a demand for the answer.

"Let me go and I'll tell you" She said carefully but then felt something unexpected, his fingers curled around her neck replacing the blade and slowly cutting off her oxygen.

"I don't think so" He growled at her his voice grating on her like asphalt. She could feel the closeness of his face as he leaned in and smelled her.

She had to think up something quick before she passed out and the only thing that came to mind, she wasn't even sure would work. "Are you sure you really know whom you buried today?" was all she could get out before her voice was gone and her vision dimmed. Pain, immense pain was all she could feel as her head made contact with the metal floor when he dropped her. He still had a tight hold of the rope wrapped around her hand that she was sure had broken. She was amazed that her shoulder hadn't dislocated when he'd dropped her, seeing as how her hand was held up by his grip on the rope.

"You got two minutes to talk before I kill you…" he growled before dropping the rope then turning the captain's chair around and sitting in it staring at the young girl. He wasn't sure yet why he'd spared her, but something struck him about what she'd said.

Her first reaction was to cough and suck in the much-needed air. But she knew that two minutes would go to fast if she was coughing the whole time, so she had to get her words in while gasping for air.

"Let me guess… you found her in a slam… she told you little bits of information… that would lead you to believe… she was the girl you'd saved five years ago…" with that said she let herself cough a few times.

"Keep talking"

"Did you ever bother to find out why she called herself Kyra? Or did you just assume that everything she told you was the truth?" She waited for a reply but got none. "She told you she tried to join up with the mercs… but they sold her into slavery right?" At this point she knew she had his attention and she gathered herself together and stood up rubbing the now forming bruises on her neck. "Jesus Riddick, I thought you to be smarter than that…" she mumbled and her eyes filled with surprise as she felt his hand around her throat again pinning her to the wall.

"What the fuck did you just say to me bitch?"

"Riddick…I came looking for you… Imam wouldn't tell me where you were, so I jacked a skiff and began searching planet after planet for you!"

"Who the fuck are you girl?"

"You still don't know?"

"She died" he growled at her as his grip tightened on her neck.

The girl cringed as his grip tightened and she tried to speak and merely squeaked out "Kyra died… not Jack…" She gasped as with one last effort to breath she kicked her foot out and made contact with his knee forcing him to release her as he stumbled slightly. And with the few seconds she had she was able to reach the shiv she kept in her boot.At the same instant that Riddick's shiv met her neck, her shiv met his neck.

"I remember when you taught me to fight… your leg hadn't healed enough for you to leave and you taught me how to protect myself. Bet you never thought I'd be able to get a shiv to your neck would you? But I've had lots of practice on pricks who thought they could take advantage of me."

"How do I know your not shitting me"

"Cause if I were I'd be dead… wouldn't I?" She hissed out through clenched teeth. He pressed the shiv harder to her throat then.

The girl stood her ground just staring him down like any animal would. "So are we gonna just stand here all day wasting light? Or are you gonna pilot this fucking thing and listen to what I have to tell you?"

Riddick slowly lowered his shiv from the girl's throat, and once she felt his lower, she let her arm down as well.

Normally he would have just slit her throat, but it was what she had said… 'Wasting light' he hadn't heard that term since that planet. She had an attitude, a worse one than Kyra'd had. This peaked his interest, maybe this really was Jack. God that thought alone made him almost want to hug her… almost… but Riddick never hugged. There hadn't been anyone in Riddick's life that he'd cared for. That is until they were flying off that damned planet. He'd grown attached to Jack, especially after she had stitched up his leg. Imam tried but didn't have the stomach. He found it interesting that a 14 year old girl had a tougher stomach than a 40 year old man… but then again, Jack had a tough spirit. After stitching him up, she ordered him to two weeks limited use of his leg. He tried to fight her on it, because no one ordered Riddick around, but she'd stood up to him… no one had the guts to do that. Yet this girl standing in front of him did, she had a fight in her eyes that he'd only ever seen in his own. Just maybe this could be his Jack… maybe.

"Now… get us the hell outta here before the fucking mercs tag us" She said as she took a moment to gather herself and fix her clothing, which she found hard with only the use of one hand. She did take notice that Riddick said nothing in response to her words and it made her smirk. Maybe some of her words had sunk into his thick skull and he was beginning to realize who she was. As she finally finished adjusting her clothes she noticed Riddick staring at her.

"What?"

"Sit your ass down" he growled at her

"Right…" she mumbled as she climbed into the co-pilot seat and buckled in as the skiff began to take flight.

Once they were in the open of space with a course set in the auto-pilot, Riddick turned to look at the girl. He still didn't believe her, but there was something about her that made him wonder.

"So shall I start with the beginning?" she asked sarcastically. Riddick said nothing so she took that as a yes.

"Well let's start with what happened after you dumped me here." She took a deep breath, this was going to be a long story to tell, she hoped that Riddick had the patience. She also noticed that Riddick had flinched at the word 'dumped', it was such a slight movement that most people wouldn't see, but she did. Her hand was now turning purple, so she began to take note of items she could use to wrap it in.

"Imam changed after you left." She chuckled slightly, more to herself than anything "Guess he couldn't handle me. Did you know that he started calling me 'Lynne' after you took off? Yeah, he said that 'Jack' wasn't fit for a girls name and he refused to call me that. Even more so when I kept telling him that 'Lynne' wasn't my name." She looked out the window then and into the nothingness of space. "He tried to make me change… make me dress more like a girl and even tried to get me to go to school." She scoffed at that one. "Like I'd ever actually go…" she mumbled as she looked down at her hands then noticing just how dirty she'd gotten in the last few days. She noticed that Riddick hadn't said anything and would have thought that he'd fallen asleep if not for the fact that he had to keep reaching out and messing with the controls on the ship.

"Keep going" he finally said to her in his low baritone voice that startled her out of her revere.

"I waited two years you know. Two fucking years, of dealing with Imam and his holy man shit. When I turned 16 he lost what little control he had over me. The first time that the authorities brought me back to the house, he got so mad he hit me." She heard Riddick's questioning grunt at that comment and she looked at him with a challenge in her eyes. "You don't believe me?"

"No" His statement was calm and monotone, but very serious.

"Yeah well you weren't there now were you!" She unbuckled the seat belt then and got out of the seat moving toward the back of the small skiff not really knowing why, she just didn't want him to see the tears welling in her eyes. After a moment she composed herself and turned to face him. "That's when I left. I only gave him the chance once, and he tried to apologize profusely, but he'd pushed it to far. I left that night, taking only a few clothes with me, figured I'd just steal anything I needed." She noticed he'd turned his chair around then and was looking at her, without his goggles on he seemed like a monster in a fairy tale. She just stood there staring at him for a moment trying to read if he was truly listening to her or not. At this point she didn't really even care, it just felt good to get it off her chest.

"Keep going"

"Oh so you are listening" the stubbornness of a teenage girl now showing in her voice

"Keep…going…" he growled as he narrowed his eyes at her. He had to hear the rest of the story. He was beginning to believe it was her. As much as he didn't want to believe it, his instincts were telling him that she wasn't lying, and his instincts never lied to him… never.

Jack sighed then and sat in the back of the skiff only about three feet away from him and let her head rest back on the cold metal, but cradled her hand in her lap. "I was on the streets for a week before I finally got so desperate for clean water and food that I began to beg people for it. Never in my life did I think I'd have to beg… but I did." She took a deep breath then, the next part of her story required a little more control of her anger. "I had to play the damsel in distress to everyone, even though I knew that I could take on anyone who challenged me, you'd seen to that. I knew I could take on anyone with my fighting skills… but someone had tipped the authorities on that issue. They fucking drugged me. I couldn't believe that they even had such strong sedatives, but then again, they did run the planet."