Disclaimer: As much as it pains me to have to say this, I do not own any part of Riddick that you already knew about. But he's about the only thing in this story that I don't own.
The apartment in this story is one that I wish wholeheartedly that I owned myself, and the bathtub is one that my uncle once owned before he moved again. Enjoy.
There, at the top of the loading ramp, much to his surprise and delight was Tori. However, much to his displeasure, the moment she saw him, she round-house kicked him, landing him flat on his ass.
Whenever he recovered he found himself bound and gagged with a horse bit.
"So, Sleeping Beauty, how do you like bondage?" Riddick could only glare in response. "I'm glad you like it so much, because you are going to be spending quite a lot of time here, fully conscious and bound as payment for being bound to the med bed for so long.
"You see Riddick; I don't do bondage, for any reason. It tends to put me in a rather jumpy mood, much as it does you I suppose. I have this thing against being made to know that I'm vulnerable to another person, don't like not being in control of my own body.
"So, now you'll spend the next week in this little chamber, completely conscious and helpless. The chrono in front of your face will tick down the amount of time you have left in those restraints. Once the timer reads zero, you'll be free to move about the ship once more, but by then, I'll be long gone, and I'm not coming back. Good-bye."
With a last touch to the cryo chamber, and a stop over at the control panel to set the defense systems so he wouldn't be attacked while he was stuck in there, she left the ship.
Misdirection is the key to any good defense. So why should she have to leave a perfectly good planet only to have to remain on the run until either Riddick finally found her or he finally gave up? With Draco and his men out of the picture, and Riddick incapacitated in the cryo chamber, Tori had no reason to actually leave; just make it look like she had left, and leave a few clues later on for him to follow even farther away.
By the time Riddick was released from his personal prison, he was furious and determined to find her again. But strange as it may seem, he wasn't enraged by or even at her, just at himself. For everything she had just put him through in the last couple of weeks, he couldn't find one iota of anger to direct at her.
He had been the idiot who put her life in jeopardy by pissing off Draco and his men that night. She had saved his miserable life by blocking the shot that was undoubtedly meant for him, and she'd fought all the way to the end despite the fact that she was bleeding to death. Then, while she was at her most vulnerable point, when she needed him there to protect and watch over her while he helped her to wake up, he left. He left the room; the ship; the area; to go across town to some hide away bar so he could release his beast.
He may not have actually done anything with the girl, well, not anything too serious, but even he knew he didn't stand a chance of ever getting her back. There was no excuse he could make, no reason that he could offer to her in apology for his actions. He would forever be an asshole of the highest degree for ever attempting to be with another woman while she lay on her death bed and an even bigger moron for throwing it all away.
However, even knowing that he didn't have a snowballs chance in hell, he still had to find her, apologize for his actions, and give his side of events no matter how lame they may be. If he didn't try everything to get her back, than he would forever regret the untried path.
Things happen to a person when they leave this world for the amount of time Tori had; and she was no exception. Some people take on a whole new outlook on life, where others merely retreat to some other realm of existence that none can really understand unless they have been there as well.
Everything about her personality and moods took on a darker tone. It wasn't like she was spouting death sonnets, wearing all black, and wishing for the dark embrace of death, but she wasn't all sunshine and flowers either. She landed somewhere in the middle range with a darker tendency.
She refused to return to the ring, but being out on her own meant that she had to have a way to earn money for things like food and rent for an apartment. With no other skills in her arsenal to make money with, she reverted to her other standby; self-defense teacher.
In a town where the main focus of the many were fighting and killing, self-defense for women and children made anyone a lot of money, but an especially large amount of money could be made if you could also give advanced fighting techniques to men and women of the ring. She had just been lucky to have had a friend there on the planet that had been ready to retire from the life of constant fighting.
With this new lifestyle came a new identity to suit. She no longer went by the name Tori Weatherstorm, but instead she was now Taya Waters. She no longer considered herself as part of any ring, but as someone who prepared others for the ring and their eventual fate.
The friend who had given up his position has head of the defense classes also left her with his old apartment. She had to have a place to live to go with this new job, so why not make sure it was within reasonable distance from the class and local ring. A place within walking distance, but not so close that the late night fights would interrupt her sleep.
The apartment itself was exquisite. More along the lines of a small home; it was perfect for one, yet spacious enough for two. The living room was the largest room of the entire place, with a full size couch, end tables on either end, an overstuffed chair that match the couch perfectly, coffee table, entertainment center, and working fireplace. And all of this was beautifully arranged to make the room seem ever more spacious.
Next, came the kitchen and dinning area. The dinning area was actually set apart from the rest of the living room with enough space for a six-person dinning table and china cabinet. The kitchen was even a modest sized kitchen. There was room enough to cook and have another person in there with you without having to cram together.
Further back were the bedroom and bathroom.
The room held a queen size bed and reasonably sized desk with com system, and to top it all off, there was room enough to walk around without stumbling over everything. There was a big bay window with sitting alcove near the desk for natural light to flow into the room and inspire the soul. And her closet was more like another small room. Rods to hang up clothes on either side, a built in dresser to the bottom right for all of her delicates and other things that couldn't be hung up, and to the left, a cubby hold for things like shoes and purses.
The bathroom she was most breath taken over. While it had the basic necessities; toilet, sink, and shower, it also had a full vanity to accompany the sink, and an enormous tub. Not one of those tubs that only about half a normal body could fit into either, this thing was huge. It was more like an indoor pool, but for bathing. A two foot deep, round jacoozie type bathtub, room to stretch out or for another to join you without having to sit in their lap, but it was still an option.
When her friend had told her what the rent for this place was a month, she thought he must have been joking, until she saw it. After that, she would have paid anything for it.
But even with a new career and a new identity, she still had to have a new appearance.
However, how does one disguise oneself from a man who can smell the subtle changes in a person's mood? It's difficult to say the least, barring any magical concealment, but it is entirely possible to throw him off with misdirection methods of perfume and scented body washes. Other cosmetic solutions are easily applied to the hair and face to aid in these methods of hiding.
Tori did everything she could think of barring surgery to hide herself out in the open. Instead of being a shoulder length, blonde hair, blue eyed beauty, she was now a short, curly, brunette hair, jade eyed hottie. And to throw Riddick off of her trail should he ever find her, she no longer smelt of clear summer days at the beach, but instead rich tropical fruits of the deepest jungles of old Earth.
Otherwise, she was essentially the same. She could do nothing about her height, she chose not to do anything about her build, and didn't have the money to actually go through with facial reconstruction. Now it was up to fate whether or not Riddick ever found her again.
It didn't take Tori long to establish herself with her students, and she even began to feel comfortable in the little community around her. She even began to feel that she'd either sent Riddick far enough away he would either never find her or that he would give up looking for her, and either way was great for her.
She kept to herself for the most part, but allowed herself to make a few choice friends with the people in her building, and a few of the people surrounding her little gym. It had been hard starting off in a new surrounding having to learn how to become a part of a community that doesn't fear you, but she adapted and at least earned a few people's respect.
She refused to go to any of the rings around her apartment. It wasn't for fear that she couldn't cut it, but rather that she would do as well as before and attract Riddick's, or another Draco's, attention. If anything like that were to happen then she would have to leave the life that she'd grown to love, and she swore she'd never do anything to jeopardize it.
Besides, when you are the most sot after Defensive teacher and you realize that the majority of your students frequent the surrounding rings, it's not good for business to go there and wipe the floor with them. The whole point to her job was to help her students become better in the ring, and going there to show them up would only succeed in her students losing confidence in themselves. Then they'd never come back and she'd lose her job and her way of life. Not a good combo.
He should have known! All along she'd been on that planet.
She'd faked the entire thing, sending him on a wild goose chase by making him believe that she'd left the planet. All of that just to be rid of him so she could stay behind and never have to see him again.
He'd only followed her leads for about three planets when he'd managed to get ahead of her tricks and realized just how far she had gone to get rid of him.
After depleting nearly all of his resources trying to catch up to her, he had to stay docked on the last planet he "chased" her to in order to earn enough money to get the necessary supplies and information to get back to her. He wouldn't make the same mistake with this female. She'd been able to fool him once; she'd not get another chance so soon.
A/N: I am so sorry for how long this chapter took me. Every time I came anywhere near my computer I lost interest with trying to type up this chapter to this story and would start working on a different story. I'm attempting stay focused more on just a couple of stories at a time, but that could change at any point in time. I apologize now for any more delays there may be in the future.