Chapter Text
Every day, it's the same thing. Get up, get dressed, eat, go to work, come home, eat, shower, try to sleep, only half the time succeeding. Nothing new really steps inside of my personal bubble of soul sucking routine. Not even my friends. I'm sure by now they think I've abandoned them all, aside from the obligatory texts and calls everyday.
My best friend found her soul marked the other day. She tells me all about her. I can't help but feel the sting of jealousy as I think about how cute their meeting was. Something about meeting on a bus and papers flying everywhere. They exchanged their timid apologies, and it all clicked.
Oh, you're such a good girl, aren't you, sweetheart? I rubbed absently at the neat but masculine scrawl resting over my collarbone. I felt a spike of anger at the words marked upon my body. Who says that to their soul mate upon seeing them? Why did it have to sound so pornographic? Why couldn't it have been a nice 'hello miss'? Did God think this would be funny?
I felt the burn in my eyes as I stared at the ceiling. It looked like another night without sleep again. I wasn't even sure if I was blinking, to be honest. My thoughts kind of looped in static and anger and misery. I could almost call it meditation with how empty my mind felt at times.
I knew that everyone who'd ever seen my mark had assumed the worst for me. That I'd end up working the streets or selling videos of myself or something. Joke was on them. I hardly ever left my apartment aside from work. A large crash of thunder brought me back to the present, blinking away the burning sensation in my eyes. I looked outside to find that I couldn't see an inch from the window. "The weather was supposed to be clear today..." I muttered to myself. Then a thought occurred to me. "Shit. I forgot to get the mail." I groaned. That means getting dressed. And getting soaked. At least it should still be warm out with how hot it was today.
Dark wash jeans hugged my curves with the knees stressed. I grabbed a form fitting long sleeved black shirt that had even covered most of my neck. I debated on whether or not I should just wear my sandals or put in the effort for warm toes later with my black 'combat' boots. I shrugged to myself, grabbing my boots and a pair of socks. I moved to open my door before I paused. I turned and grabbed my water proof purse. No use in the mail getting wet...
The door shut behind me, the click sounding oddly ominous. I didn't understand why until I realized that the rain wasn't making any noise. There was no static of the pattering of rain. I stepped out into the rain and looked up in confusion, getting soaked in the process. The rain was pounding down, but there was no muted roar of the downpour around me. I was almost afraid to break the silence around me, but in some distant part of my brain, I knew I needed to run before I caught my death. I finally snapped out of my hypnotized state to begin my quick trek to my mailbox. I never made it. A white hot pain lanced through my body, effectively cutting off my breath. My vision was whited out, my other senses shut off. My vivid indigo eyes were wide and unseeing and my mouth open in a soundless shriek of pure agony.
And just like that, the pain was gone. The rain had stopped. I looked around to find two rows of containers that reminded me way too much of coffins, one row lining each wall, empty. I looked to be in a hallway, though I doubted that was the case. I could feel the humming of the ground. It reminded me of the humming of airplanes when I'd had to use them. Maybe this was a new model of air transport? I heard footsteps and ducked behind the closest thing I could find. One of the coffins. Only this one was occupied. I noticed the warning labels and frowned. Am I in a prison transport?
I looked up to find lots of free civilians milling about, stepping into their sarcophagi. I shuddered silently. After it looked like everyone was in their coffins, I moved to leave, only to feel the jolt of gravity. Fuck me, It looks like I'm getting a free ride to somewhere. But how did I get here anyway? And what was up with that storm? I rubbed my hand on my dry jeans and became momentarily distracted. I'm dry? When did that happen? The whole area shook viciously, causing my hands to clamp down harder on the coffin next to me. Turbulance?
I finally got a good look at the man in his prison coffin once the shaking settled. He was muscled. Those kinds of muscles screamed danger. He could rip me in two without a second thought. I looked up to his face and felt my face screw up in confusion. Why the fuck do they have him blinded and gagged? That's fucked up! As soon as I get off of this plane, I'm going to launch a complaint about his treatment. It's inhumane and cruel. I started at the sensation of being lifted off the ground. My eyes widened and I looked for the reason for it, only to see the cockpit and.... stars? Are we in space? What the fuck?! When did this become possible? Am I in another world? I jerked out of my own thoughts and moved to the nearest empty coffin. Must be how they stay alive. Don't see a galley around here. I quickly closed myself in beside the criminal. Please let this not be a real coffin...
Riddick
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.
Transporting me with civilians. Sounds like forty, forty plus.
Heard a Arab voice. Some hoodoo holy man, probably on his way to New Mecca.
But what route? What route?
The smell of a woman. Sweat, boots, tool belt leather. Prospector type. Free settlers, and they only take the back roads...
Heard a little commotion before the rest of the passengers boarded. Another woman. Sweet, like caramel, vanilla, chocolate, and coffee. A hard bite of peppers. Woman likes her spicy food. The smell of rain and ozone still clinging to her. Funny, it wasn't raining outside. I'll have to inspect her later.
And here's my real problem. Mr. Johns, blue-eyed devil.
Planning on taking me back to slam. Only this time he picked a ghost lane.
Long time between stops.
Long time for something to go wrong.
My mind turned to the words across my chest in beautiful script. There's moonlight in your eyes, so beautiful. What does that even mean, anyway? Everybody who's ever met me thinks they're the eyes of a soulless animal...
I listened, cocking my head in the mystery woman's direction. She was awake, too. Interesting. She's an animal, too. I smirked around my bit. This trip got more entertaining as I heard a soft rhythmic thunk against her glass. Guess she isn't the most patient person. Like a tiger in a cage.
Meridian
I hate my life.Thunk. I hate my life. Thunk. I hate my life. Thunk. God is an asshole. Thunk. What did I do- Thunk -to deserve this? Thunk. It's so BORING. Thunk. Been out here for WEEKS! Thunk. Can't something interesting happen?
A strange noise caught my attention and pulled me from my pass time of knocking my head against the glass of the sarcophagus. I tilted my head at the odd sound. Like a vacuum. Not the engine part. The sucking part. I could feel a hard ball of dread in the pit of my stomach as I remembered the saying, 'be careful what you wish for'. The shuttle craft began to quake, rattling me around in my death trap of a box. I wanted to scream, but the sound built up in my throat and could go no further. My heart hammered against my rib-cage, a staccato of fear and adrenalin. My hand found the handle in the wall of my glass and steel prison and yanked it, sending me tumbling out of my coffin. The whole shuttle jerked again, nearly sending me into a steel support beam. I latched onto it with all my might. No way would I die here.
There was shouting up front, but with the creaking of the hull and the roaring of blood in my ears, I couldn't make out what was happening. The jerks were getting harder to fight against, but I held steadily to the beam, fighting the tunnel vision that began to grow narrower and narrower before going black completely. All of my senses numbed.
Fuck, my head hurts. What the hell happened? I pulled myself from the kneeling position I was in, arms in a bruising deadlock around some metal beam. I let go with a wince at the bruises that were already beginning to form. I looked around at all the destruction around me. A good portion of the back of the cabin I was in was gone. The heat, I couldn't determine if it was from the planet we crashed on, or the heat from the crash itself. I wanted to groan at the lack of oxygen making my chest tight. Around me, others were coming out of their coffins, reminding me of vampires. Children calling for an 'Imam' and a woman calling for her 'Zeke'. I moved quietly through the wreckage, determining if I was in very much danger. I was moving quietly toward the cockpit, watching a woman throwing things out of her way to reach her crewmate.
The rod sticking through his chest was a give away that he was dead. I could practically feel her regret. Her guilt. What do you have to be guilty of? I eyed her suspiciously.
I was jolted from my thoughts when he began screaming.
"Get it out of me! Get it out!" He shouted, drawing the other survivors to him in morbid fascination. The female went to try to take the thing out of him when he began shouting again. "Don't you touch it, Fry! Don't you touch that handle!" She jerked her hand away, suddenly reeking of guilt. The handle? What does the handle do?
"Get it out of him!" Someone shouted.
"No, it's too close to his heart." A wild looking beauty informed.
"There should be some antihistamine in the back of the cabin." Fry tried to figure out how to help him.
"Not anymore, there's not." A posh voice piped up. I frowned at the tactless mutter.
"Get out of here. All of you." The others left one by one, A kid, and a strawberry blond man with ice blue eyes stayed behind. "Get out of here!" She raised her voice, snapping the other two out of their shock as the man moaned and whimpered in pain. I stepped up, my medium grey locks catching in the meager light, causing a my hair to almost appear as shiny as sharpened steel.
"He shouldn't have to hurt as he passes." I murmured.
"There's nothing that can be done without medication." Fry gritted her teeth.
"There is something I can do, but it's generally frowned upon." She eyed me warily. "He's going to die anyway, but he deserves it to be quicker than this."
"You're right." She agreed grimly. "What are you going to do?"
"Snap his neck." I admitted. Her eyes sharpened on me. "It's quick, and it'll be less painful from what I understand." She slumped slightly in resignation.
"Do what you have to do." She whispered. I moved closer, stooping down to take either side of the dying man's head and jerked his head with a sick sounding snap. Silence. "Thank you."
"I only wish I could have done more. Maybe save him." I muttered reluctantly.
"Let's go out there and figure this stuff out." The woman offered her hand to me to pull me to my feet. I took the offered hand with a grim face.
We made our way out of the cockpit, picking our way through the passenger cabin, trying to avoid most of the debris strewn about. I was watching my feet when I noticed Fry pause. I turned back to find her staring at a bound, blinded and gagged convict. I frowned, and moved to take the blindfold and bit off. A hand touched my shoulder, causing me to tense.
"Big evil." I imagined he gestured to the bound man. "He just escaped from a triple max prison. Wouldn't want to get too close." A drawling male voice informed me from behind. I didn't turn around, my body frozen.
"So what, we just gonna keep him here forever?" Fry spoke up. I turned slightly to watch both the convict and this man that my instincts were screaming not to let get too close to me.
"That'd be my preference." The strawberry blond man shrugged, leaning against a piece of the wreckage.
"Is he really that dangerous?" Fry tried to whisper, but I noticed that the convict's head twitched our way. He can hear us...
"Only to humans." The blue eyed man replied, amusement still in his voice.
"Is that why he's blinded and gagged?" I spoke up. I didn't like the way he spoke, as if inciting fear for this man would get him what he wanted. "Or is that just your personal kink?" I couldn't help but rib the man. A muffled chuckle came from the bound man. I could hear the cop's teeth grinding as he bit back his annoyance.
"What's your point?" I could hear the slickness of his voice as he eyed me.
"My point," I answered pointedly, "Is that this treatment is inhumane. You already have him bound. It's unethical to have him blinded and gagged, unnecessarily." I glared at the man. He gave a vicious grin.
"If you want to take 'em off, be my guest. But don't come crying to me if he rips your throat out." He kicked off the wall and started to saunter out. "Oh, and, his eyes are real sensitive to light, so the blindfold is probably a mercy." With that, he was gone. I glared after him. Fry frowned as she looked between where he went and myself. I caught her eye.
She must have realized that I was still going to take off the bit and blindfold because she nodded before skirting her way out of the room. I stood there for a moment, contemplating how to do this. I searched the area, finding some welding goggles that I hoped would help with the light. I remained silent as I slowly approached the convict. I was standing between his legs, boldly, letting my hand run up his neck as softly as I could. I sought the knot of the blindfold, but it was just out of reach for my fingers to do much.
He must have realized what I was doing, because he leaned forward, his head very close to my jugular. I heard the inhale, and my face flamed uncomfortably, as I realized he was scenting me. For fuck's sake! He acts like an animal. A predator. I breathed in through my nose and out through my mouth, trying to ignore the scent of masculinity, sweat, cloves, blood, and steel.
My fingers finally un-knotted the blasted blindfold, and it fell away. He straightened up, looking me in the eye, causing to suck in a breath, mystified.
"There's moonlight in your eyes," I barely spoke above a whisper as a hand came up to trace just above his cheekbone, "so beautiful." His head leaned into the touch, as my hand moved from under his eye to cup the side of his face. He eyed me with a calculative look in his eyes, breaking me from my trance. "Sorry," I muttered before pulling my had away to grab the goggles in my pocket and fastening them around his head as gently as I could. "I'll get this bit out now." My hands slid behind hid head, unclasping the latch as he spat the bit out. My hands moved to rub the tenseness from his jaws. He gave a low grumbling groan.
"Oh, you're such a good girl, aren't you, sweetheart?" My eyes widened as the words fell from his lips.
Oh, fuck. I started to fall backwards, but he tightened his thighs around my hips, keeping me in a tenuous balancing act. A hand shot forward and grabbed his shirt, using that to pull myself up.
"Please let me go." I murmured, now upright. His legs relaxed.
"You scared of me?" He asked. I looked up to his goggled eyes.
"Yes." I all but whispered. "But not for the same reason everybody else is." He tilted his head, curiosity evident in his face. I backed away. "I should probably go now." I mumbled, face heating up as I turned to leave.
A chuckle froze me in place. "See you soon, sweetheart." I almost tripped on my way out, trying to put as much distance as I could between us.
Riddick
This is becoming interesting. I listened to the others shuffling around outside, talking about something here and there. I was hardly paying attention to them as I listened for her. The woman who murmured the words over my heart like she was in a trance. She was scurrying around, introducing herself as 'just Meridian'. Meridian, huh? Cute. And she was cute. Timid, yet bitter about something. She didn't seem to be afraid of me until I said something. Seemed sad, too. Like my words hurt her somehow.
"Hey, your shirt's ripped." A kid's voice. "Cool tattoo. What's it say? Can hardly make it out."
"Not a tattoo. It's a soul mark." She almost grunted.
"A what?" A woman's voice broke in.
"Look. When that ship took off from wherever it did, I didn't come on by normal means." Meridian admitted.
"Stow away?" The ship's acting captain accused.
"Not voluntarily." The tiny woman grumbled. "One minute, I was going out to get the mail during this weird storm. Got out there, no noise. Not from the rain, not from anything else in the city. Couldn't see but a few inches in front of my face. Then, this white hot pain engulfs me, and I can't see or hear smell anything. Just as sudden as it starts, it stops and I'm in there trying to figure out what the hell is going on. Interplanetary transport isn't a thing except for science fiction where I'm from." She paused. "But where I'm from, you find your soul mate," she practically sneered those two words as if they left a bad taste in her mouth, "by the first words they say to you. Usually, the words show up when your soul mate comes into existence. So if your other half is already born, you're born with yours. They get theirs when you're born." I cocked my head to the side.
Soul mates? That little thing is my other half? I snorted. And she doesn't seem to hold much faith in it.
"Being soul marked to someone doesn't mean anything special, though. You can still cheat on your marked. Can still hurt them. Can even kill them. Being marked doesn't equate to happy ever after." She answered my musings unintentionally.
"But what's it say?" The kid's voice again.
"That, dear Jack, is between my soul mate and me." She answered.
"I've heard anomalies happen in thunder storms." Captain offered, almost as a consolation.
"Just my luck." My marked grumbled in discontent.
"Let's go see if we can find you another shirt, huh?" That exotic accented woman murmured, probably ushering my little woman off to help her cover my mark. The others followed, hoping to find water.
I like the ring of that. My woman. Could get used to that. I popped my arms out of their sockets to pull my arms above my head to slide the chain of my cuffs through the break in the beams, popping them back into place. Just gotta get her liking the idea, then I'm set. Of course, if she doesn't there's no real loss. I smirked at the thought, grabbing the welding torch to cut through my chains. Now to get the fuck outta here.