(Disclaimer: I own none of the Pitch Black or the COR characters. I wouldn't mind owning Riddick though.)

Jack had nightmares of what the horrible man that was supposed to be her dad did to her during Cryo-sleep. He beat her every chance he got. When he was drunk or sober he didn't care, she was just a target. Her mom had left because he beat her then when Jacks mom left her dad started beating on her. The small amount of time she was in cryo-sleep she didn't get much rest because of the nightmares. She had yet to meet a decent man that cared if she lived or died. To her dad she was just something to hit. Then she met Riddick, who was an escaped con and murderer. And she idolized him for it. He really didn't understand why she liked him so much. She was the only one that wanted to be around him let alone be like him. She left him one night in the middle of the night so her dad couldn't do any thing about her leaving. She took a bunch of money to buy a spot on the Hunter Gratzner to anywhere just away from her dad on Bracay.

The three survivors of T2 sat in the little skiff floating in space. Riddick sat in the pilots chair starring out into space. Jack sat next to him starring at him. And when she wasn't starring at Riddick she was sleeping not getting much rest, having nightmares of the horrible creatures and her dad leaving as the creatures closed in on her, when she was weak and vulnerable. Imam sat in the back praying. He hadn't stopped praying since they left T2 with his rosemary beads in hand.

Jack wondered why Riddick saved her and Imam. He could have left them there to die of starvation, and thirst or to be eaten by those things; but he didn't he went back to the cave and led them to the skiff. Jack also pondered why Fry risked her butt for Riddick's butt...and how Riddick felt about another person dying for him. None of the three survivors spoke to each other for almost a week when Jack thought the long lasting silence was made worse by the space outside. She was going crazy not talking to anybody she had to say something but didn't. On the other hand Riddick didn't mind the silence; he was used to not talking to anyone for he was always alone, even in slam he was left alone. Jack though wanting to she didn't say anything, she just fell back to sleep.

Dream

Jack stood outside the skiff with her dad inside looking at her through the front windshield, smiling and laughing at her because he was leaving her there. He stood there and watched as one of those things sneaked up behind Imam and grabbed him by the neck and tore him apart, and he didn't say anything when one came up behind Riddick and bit his head off and carried his body off into the dark. She stood in the rain crying because she had lost Riddick and Imam. No lights so the creatures lurked closer to her, she could feel their breath on her skin as she awaited her fait of being eaten by these monsters she couldn't even see. She was the only one left on that sad little planet, the only one that hadn't been picked of from the 7 that lived through the crash, but that would soon change. She would be eaten like all the others. Like Shaza, Fry, Johns, Zeke, Imam, and like Riddick. She heard one heading right for her, as she stood scared holding Riddick's shiv. She dropped to the ground as the creature flew right over her trying to grab her with its claws but missed. She started running for the darkest figure she could see as her dad flew the skiff of the damned planet. She ran inside the building and closed the doors tight behind her, she jammed them so the creatures couldn't get in and she couldn't get out. She could hear the creatures yelling and butting heads on the other side of the thick doors. Then she turned around and leaned against the door, sliding to the floor in relief. She heard the flapping of wings as a creature dropped from somewhere above and stabbed her through the chest.

End

Jack slept in cold sweat; she woke up in a scream with tears rolling down her face. She opened her eyes to find Riddick with his eye her.

"Ok?" Riddick asked breaking the long lasted silence, not breaking Imams concentration, but getting Jack's attention.

"Yeah." Jack replied shivering as she sat up straight in her seat and looked at Riddick.

"Bad dream?" Riddick turned his gaze out the windshield.

"Oh yeah." Jacks eyes widened when she answered.

"Wanna talk about it?" Riddick asked still looking out the window.

"No." Jack thought he wouldn't care, she thought that he was just trying to make her feel better. "What are you gonna do when we find a hospitable planet?" Jack asked the first question that popped in her head that had absolutely nothing to do with T2 or the creatures.

"Travel." Riddick turned his head towards Jack.

"Can I go with you?" Jack asked Riddick as she pulled her knees to her chest and looked at her feet.

"Nothing slows me down."

"We slowed you down when you came back for us." She looked at him with tears in her eyes. "Please..." Riddick didn't answer her question so she ignored him for about five minutes. "How many people have you killed?"

"Over 1000."

"Whoa. How do you deal?"

"I kill to survive. No matter what."

"I really want to go with you." She didn't expect a reply.

"Hmm...We will see." Riddick's reply made her happy so she fell back to sleep and had the same dream. She woke up out of a dead sleep wet with sweat and tears in her eyes and a scream in her throat. She opened her eyes and found she was in the back of the skiff; she waited for her eyes to adjust, and noticed that she was laying on something that moved in an up and down motion; when she looked up she saw Riddick's face. It didn't really frighten her just startled her.

"Riddick?" She said to him, she also noticed that Imam had moved to the front of the skiff. "How..."

"You looked uncomfortable so I picked you up and brought you back here to lay you down. I set you down here, then I sat next to you and you leaned my way."

"Oh." Jack retreated back to her position. "Thanks." Jack felt a little better with him around, he could protect her from anything. She went back to sleep and slept peacefully for an hour but woke up screaming. "AAAAAAAH!"

"What?" Riddick asked with so little concern in his voice you would have thought he was disappointed.

"Hold me?" Jack asked Riddick. Riddick wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. "Protect me?" She started crying

"From who?"

"Those creatures, they haunt my dreams." Riddick's grasp tightened as Jack wrapped her arms around him to return the favor. "I feel safe around you. Don't ever leave me." Jack didn't exactly ask this of him she demanded it.

When the trio landed on Helion Prime Imam went his own way leaving Jack with Riddick. Somehow, Imam knew Riddick would take care of Jack, and that they would keep each other in check. Jack sat on the ramp to the skiff watching Riddick trade with the local merchants, his muscles glistening in the sun after the shower he had taken to remove the three inch layer of dirt he had piled on. When Riddick was finished he carried a crate back to the skiff adding to the three he had traded for previously, and set it in between the two seats in front.

"So are you gonna take me with you or are you gonna leave me here?" Jack held the shiv Riddick had used to save her more then once. She again got no answer from the large masculint con. "Well?" Jack stopped fiddling with the piece of metal and turned to face the man still sitting on the ramp.

"You really wanna go with me?"

"Yeah, I want you to teach me everything you know about everything." Jack jumped up and attempted a fighting stance with the shiv in hand.

"No, like this..." Riddick walked over to her and corrected her stance.

"See what I mean, and I probably have a lot to teach you too." Riddick returned to his work completely ignoring what she had said like he had done many a time during the ride there. "Can I ask you a question?" Jack asked relaxing from the stance.

"Sure." Riddick said with an unenthusiastic tone.

"Why did you come back for us?"

"Because Carolyn asked me too."

"Besides that..."

"I didn't want to go back. If she hadn't of been there I would have left you for dead." Riddick interrupted her.

"I know that there is another reason. Could it be there is a little bit of humanity left deep within?"

"No. Just survival." Those three words escaped from Riddick's lips as a growl.

"Hurts huh?"

"What?"

"Your heart."

"I don't have a heart."

"You have to, to feel the way you do right now. I saw it from T2 how you stared into space thinking of what she said." Jack walked over to where Riddick was working on putting the stuff in the crate away, as she started to help him. "How her life was taken for yours."

"I've murdered many... one more doesn't matter."

"I thought there might be a little humanity left, but guess not." Jack sat down in the last chair towards the pilot's chair, of the chairs lined against the wall. "I don't think you're all bad."

"You have bad judgment."

"I think it's just a front. Make everybody think you're a badass when you really just want to be left alone."

"Yeah alone."

"You look like a heartless murderer to most. But to me you're an unlikely hero for an unlikely girl." Jack walked up behind Riddick and slithered her arms around his waist as he reached for a lever on the ceiling of the skiff to close the hatch, she squeezed as hard as she could to try and show him how much she wanted to thank him for saving her. "Thank you. I can never thank you enough for saving me." She let go and crossed her arms over her chest to keep herself from jumping on his back and kissing him all over for saving her sorry ass.

"I'm curious..."

"About what?" Jack climbed into the chair besides Riddick and buckling herself in.

"Why were you on that ship anyway? No place for little girl." Riddick did what he needed to, to get them into the air.

"Well my dad would beat on me, if he was drunk or sober. I got tired of it so I up and left one night."

"I'll kill any man who..." Riddick's voice just faded into the air as he realized what he was about to say.

a few years later

"Riddick...I'm going out." Jack grabbed her jacket and headed out the door.

"Where?"

"To Darkness will rise."

"What time will you be home?"

"I dunno, around 2."

"Make it 12:30."

"One."

"12:30"

"Come on. Janis curfew is at 2."

"You're lucky you're even goin."

"Riddick...fuck you." Jack said to Riddick as her ears started to steam.

"What did you say?" Riddick Grabbed Jack by the Neck and pulled her close to his face.

"I didn't say anything."

"That's what I thought." Riddick let go of her and she quickly ran out the door. She stood outside waiting for John her date as she rubbed her neck where red marks were forming from Riddick's large hands.

"I left my dad to get away from this shit. Why am I taking it from him?" Jack asked herself looking at the bruises inflicted by the large muscular man. Her arms were covered in blue and purple bruises that were covered up by a long almost see through shirt. Adding to the small cut on her bottom lip. She remembered when she embraced Riddick on the skiff he hugged her back he did that every time she needed him, but the trouble started when she started to date, which means Riddick would have to start dating too. When they started dating he started hitting her and just beating on her more then her dad did. He hadn't hugged her for three months. John approached and she took his arm as they walked to Darkness will Rise the newest nightclub in town.