Rewind

Disclaimer: I do not own Pitch Black, Dark Fury, or The Chronicles of Riddick

A/N: Okay, I lied, here's another chapter... this is the last one until after I finish Tribulations, so give that story some love if you want to see more to this one!

Riddick had been having a very pleasant dream when he was rudely awoken by nearly being tossed off the seat he was napping on. Snapping his eyes open and jerking his head to the side he watched as Carolyn Frye leveled the little skiff she, Riddick, and the other passengers were currently on. Carolyn had a wide-eyed, fearful, sick, look in her eye and she clutched her stomach. "Frye," Riddick said, getting her attention. He said no more and Carolyn was astonished to find true, genuine concern in his eyes. Just what the hell changed him so much?

"I-I'm fine, just... bad memories..." Carolyn explained, swallowing her fear and composing herself.

"Either you take control of it or let it rampage all over your head," Riddick advised. Carolyn nodded in agreement, grateful for his words. Riddick stood from his seat and went to the back, bracing himself on the little panels that served as a break between the cockpit and the seating area and observed the other passengers. Most of them were awake, save for one.

"What's up?" Kyra whispered, carefully, without making a sound, getting up and crossing over to him.

"Our pilot had some bad flashbacks," Riddick explained. "What?" he asked when Kyra didn't say anything, just stared into his eyes. He gazed right back and found himself unable to look away. 'Beautiful,' he thought. He resisted the urge to flinch away as she reached up, not used to people willingly making physical contact with him of that nature – unless he payed them.

Kyra moved her hand along his cheek and felt like a school-girl when he leaned into her touch. "I'm sorry," she whispered, moving the pad of her thumb across the tiny scar on his cheek, the spot she cut him, the spot she drew his blood.

Riddick placed his own, larger hand upon her's. "For cutting me?" he asked, a little incredulously. "I was impressed," he admitted. She shook her head.

"For everything," she clarified.

"You don't have to apologize, kid – I'm sorry, jeez, it's a habit, it's what I've been calling you since I met you," Riddick grumbled when she frowned the moment he uttered that three letter nick-name. "What's your deal with that anyway? You already know that I don't see you as a kid, or do I have to remind you what we did back in the engine room?" Riddick suggested with a seductive grin, moving a hand to Kyra's waist and pulling her flush against him. He was amused when she blushed, he found it endearing.

Kyra cleared her throat. "It just reminds me of the weak little kid I once was, I'm not that kid anymore," she reminded him.

"I know that, and I don't see you as that kid anymore, but I'm still gunna call you that from time to time because one, I'll forget you hate it, two, you hate it and you're sexy when you're angry," he paused and smirked at another blush from her. "And three, it reminds me of the cute little kid I was fond of... and still am," he finished, watching her eyes widen once more, filled with doubt. "What? I may not be into that emotional shit but I'm man enough to admit when I like something, or someone," he grunted.

"That's..." Kyra blinked, unsure how to label it. "That's sweet," she smiled.

"Don't call me that, ugh," Riddick shook his head. Kyra narrowed her eyes and smirked.

"You call me 'kid', I'll call you sweet..." she grinned. While she had her suspicions back on 'The Planet' as she was now referring it to, she was beginning to really enjoy this playful side to Riddick. She wondered idly how else he liked to play...

"Alright, alright, I won't call you 'kid' anymore!" he sighed. Kyra laughed out loud, forgetting they weren't the only ones there and jumped when Riddick's hand swiftly covered her mouth.

"Sorry..." Kyra mumbled sheepishly beneath his hand.

"Jesus, kid," Riddick growled as he pulled his hand away, glancing around at the others. Fortunately, they were all still out of it, no doubt the trauma of being brought to life and getting out of a desperate situation wore them out.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart," Kyra grinned. "What? You called me 'kid' again," she chuckled as quietly as she could, covering her own mouth to stop her laughter when big bad Riddick groaned in dismay. "Such a drama-queen," she snickered.

"That's King, drama king for you, Princess," Riddick corrected with a growl.

"What happened to 'kid'?" she grinned.

"Just sit with Carolyn before I throttle you, kid..." Riddick growled. Kyra smiled when he continued to call her 'kid', even with her embarrassing 'pet-name' for him. She nodded in agreement and they swapped places. Kyra slipped into the co-pilot seat, shaking away the now familiar feeling of deja vu and strapped herself in.

"I heard you guys," Carolyn mentioned softly, her eyes staring straight ahead, even if the ship was in auto-pilot now, having been given directions to go to Helion Prime.

"Sorry, did we bother you?" Kyra asked. Normally she wasn't so considerate and kind, having been mostly stripped of that when she lost her innocence to those Mercs, long ago, but Carolyn deserved her best.

"No, I was just surprised, that's all... you two seem more like old drinking buddies or something, instead of how you were before... you're very familiar with each other," she shrugged.

"Well... we went through a lot together..." Kyra explained, leaning her head back and closing her eyes.

"So what's that I heard about you and Riddick doing something in the engine room? Do I want to know?" Carolyn asked, too curious for her own good probably. Kyra opened her eyes, stared at the ceiling for a moment, then turned to look at her companion.

"Heard about that too, did you? Well, remember seeing Shazza and Zeke come out of the wreck? Looking the way they did?" Kyra trailed off, trying to sound casual but unable to hold back her blush of embarrassment, not to mention the very nice memory that popped into her head.

"My God, you two weren't-"

"NO, we were not, we were just... kissing," Kyra bit her lip and smiled, looking away from Carolyn and out of the window on her side of the ship.

"That's all? That look you just had suggests more. God, Jack, he's... he's Riddick! How, I mean, when..." Carolyn shook her head in disbelief.

"What?" Kyra asked, highly doubtful that the older woman could find it that disturbing. "Don't tell me you don't find him attractive, that would be a lie. If I didn't already know about his pretty awesome sense of hearing, I'd defend my point, but he already has a huge ego," Kyra crossed her arms and looked at her old friend pointedly.

"Ah, well... he's okay I suppose..." Carolyn admitted, her turn to blush.

"I suppose," Kyra agreed with a snort.

Back in the passenger section, Riddick smirked, keeping his eyes closed. Yeah, he had pretty awesome hearing. 'Find me attractive, do you, kid?' he thought. 'My ego's not the only thing I have that's huge, either...' he mentally chuckled, shifting in his seat to get more comfortable. 'One of these days you're gunna find out...' he promised.

"What are you gunna do when we reach Helion Prime?" Kyra asked curiously.

"If we're really in the right time, I'm going to report to my superiors... and accept whatever punishment they give me," Carolyn answered, her jaw setting in determination. "What about you?" she asked, trying to relax.

"Me? I don't know... I don't really have much family and they wouldn't recognize me... besides, I don't really want to have anything to do with them, we're not on good terms. I'll probably just look for work or something," she shrugged. 'Or persuade Riddick to take me with him,' she added mentally. "I might spend a little time with Imam, catch up with him... we were the only two, besides Riddick, to escape that day... he became sort of like a foster father to me – I'm sorry, I didn't mean to remind you..." Kyra apologized, seeing the disturbed look in her face.

Carolyn brushed her apology aside. "No, that's okay, I need to deal with my demons."

"How much longer until we get to Helion Prime?" Kyra asked.

"A few days... I think we can ration the supplies we brought on here for the duration, but we'll have to be smart about it," Carolyn explained. The next couple days passed much like this, those who knew how to fly a ship took turns flying it, those who didn't took turns in the co-pilot's seat while the rest of the passengers tried to be as civil with each other as they could, though the situation they were in made them all uneasy. What broke the tension was the sudden crackle in the radio and the voice that spoke.

"Unidentified craft, state your purpose and contents."

"Shit... it's that damn Merc ship..." Kyra growled, walking up to the cockpit with Riddick right behind her.

"My name is Carolyn Frye, I was piloting a transport ship with some cargo and passengers along this route when we crash-landed on M6-117. It's just me and the survivors, we're on our way to Helion Prime. If you don't believe me, check the planet out for your self, you'll probably be able to see the crashed ship from orbit," Carolyn answered.

Back on board the Kublai Khan, the man monitoring the voice recognition program gave the all clear that the woman was telling the truth. "Very well, be on your way and... have a safe journey," Junner answered after he got the 'okay' from his master, his voice dripping with sarcasm. The connection was cut and the passengers relaxed back into their seats.

"Thank Alah..." Imam sighed in relief.

"I dunno, it would have been nice to get rid of that fucked up bitch," Kyra growled.

"Easy, Kyra, put the chains back on that animal," Riddick whispered into Kyra's ear. Kyra shivered and leaned into him slightly, enough to make contact with him but not enough so that the others noticed. Riddick smirked and drew the hand that was braced on the archway and that was also close to her face, down her cheek. Kyra shut her eyes for a moment, being the one to lean into his touch this time, before they drew apart. If someone had caught them, they would have just thought it was a romantic gesture, but what Kyra and Riddick just did held volumes more, it was everything they could do not to jump each other right there in the skiff.

About half a week later, much longer than they thought, they finally saw the first signs that they were entering Helion System and breathed a collective sigh of relief. The little skiff managed to hold out better than expected, which Imam took as a sign from God. Helion Prime was one of the planets closest to the system's sun, the other uninhabitable and rarely mentioned. It would take about half a day to reach Helion Prime at full speed, but the excitement was already palpable within the tiny ship. "Wouldn't it be fucked up if the ship ran out of fuel or something now? So close to our destination?" Zeke mentioned, wincing when Shazza slapped him rather hard across the chest.

"Don't say that!" She hissed, rolling her eyes as he chuckled.

"It's okay, we're close enough to contact Helion Five for help if that were to happen," Kyra mentioned from her spot on the back of the ship. She was twirling around her blade, watching the play of colors dance across it from the overhead light. She looked up when one of Imam's students addressed her.

"What was that?" She asked, unsure what the boy said, having spoken to her in a different language.

Imam answered for him. "He asked if you have ever gotten hurt doing that?" he responded.

"Oh, well, I guess at first I might have nicked myself a couple times," Kyra shrugged and Imam nodded, telling his student what she told him. The sight of Helion Prime couldn't have been a more beautiful one. The planet was very large and covered mostly in sand, with some patches of green here and there and little water. It was the hub of trade, transport, and community.

"God if that isn't a beautiful sight, I don't know what is," Paris said as they all watched the planet grow larger.

"I've seen better," Riddick muttered. UV-6, though a barren wasteland, was a pretty breathtaking planet to look at on approach, not much to see once you were on it though. It was entirely covered in ice and the little light the far off sun gave it, illuminated it enough for it to look like one huge crystal floating in a sea of obsidian. While no normal human would be able to stand that place, Riddick wasn't exactly human after all... it seemed Furyans were a pretty freaking tough race. Riddick managed to live there for five years, in the carved stomach of another enormous creature, hunting the carnivorous wildlife and living fairly comfortable considering the circumstances. His own private domain where he ruled and no one could touch him... that is, before Toombs showed up and brought reality crashing back into Riddick.

Riddick shook himself out of his thoughts as Carolyn started the decent into Helion Prime, giving her codes and answering questions from the control tower in New Mecca. Once the ship docked in the Capital and was secured, there was a scramble to get off of it. Once the doors opened most of the passengers near literally ran out of it and took a deep breath, stretching their legs. Most of them hugged, shook hands, said their goodbyes and were on their way, excited to get back to their lives after having been given this second chance. Kyra hugged Carolyn, thanking her for being there for her when she needed her and wished her luck and happiness. Carolyn thanked her and told her to take care of herself, giving Riddick, who had a cheap disguise on, a knowing look. "And you, keep out of trouble," She told him half-teasingly.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Riddick grunted, then smiled slightly, nodding to her. With Carolyn off, heading to her superiors with one last wave, that left Imam, his students, Kyra, and Riddick.

"You are most welcome to stay with me, child," Imam told his foster daughter.

"Thank you, so much, for everything you've done for me," Kyra began, hugging her father-figure, then pulled away and shook her head. "But I have to decline, I'd go crazy if I settled just yet... I'm too wired. Besides, someone's got to make sure Riddick doesn't get himself killed," she smirked.

"Kid, who said-" Riddick was cut off.

"I'm going with you and that's final," Kyra snapped at him, interrupting his protest. The fire in her eyes allowed no room for argue. Riddick was impressed.

'She's got balls,' he thought. "Fine," Riddick relented, earning a bright smile. 'Damn woman...'

"Well, you will be missed. You are more than welcome in my house any time you wish, you too, Mr. Riddick," Imam smiled knowingly.

"Whatever," Riddick grunted. With one last goodbye, they parted ways. Kyra walked alongside Riddick, nearly bouncing on her feet as she did. "You're gunna blow my cover, calm down," Riddick growled. He was amused that she would be so excited, seeing as his life was not an easy one... then again, it was a life she was pretty used to herself, so maybe it wasn't so bad that she tagged along, he knew she wouldn't hold him back anymore.

"Sorry," Kyra muttered. "What happens now?" she asked him curiously.

"We get a ship and go somewhere no one will bother us..." Riddick trailed off and smirked.

"And then?" Kyra prompted.

"Whatever you want, baby..." Riddick answered with a sexy grin as he turned and leaned toward her, his hand roaming from her back downward.

"I like the way you think," Kyra grinned back, caressing his other hand as it cupped her cheek. They locked into a slow, deep kiss, not caring about their audience around them for the moment, just lost within the moment. When they finally pulled away, their breaths short and faces flushed, they smiled. Oh this would be interesting...

End A/N: I hoped you liked this and I hope it left you wanting more... please let me know what your thoughts on this are so far!