Except my Life

Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to be except for the plot and Morrien.

Pairings: Well...eventual Vaako thing...EVENTUAL

Warning: Violence...maybe Language...some spoilers for The Chronicles of Riddick

Category: Drama/Action/Adventure/Romance -- romance is also eventual

Title: Except My Life -- will definitely change because I don't like that title very much. Help from readers welcomed!

Status: Inprogress

A/N: Right, I know how I told y'all that I didn't find any of Morrien's riddles difficult at all, I lied. As you may have noticed, chapter 2 came out after a VERY long time due to writer's block. So, when I went back to read it (after said long time) and finish the chapter, I noticed that I nearly had no clue about what I had been insinuating in the first place AND I'M THE AUTHOR! Goodness, how terrible it must be for your guys who haven't the slightest clue. So, I'm taking back what I said about it being not so difficult to figure out Morrien. Do not take this as a sign of me easing up. I will do no such thing. Morrien was made for riddles and she'll stay as cryptic as she needs be...which is VERY cryptic. THANKS TO ALL REVIEWERS! This chapter is for you guys.

Chapter 3

Morrien is fuming with anger. The damned atrocity! How dare that vile snake remark to her in such a way! Finally, Morrien throws her arms up in disgust, letting the subject be. She is exhausted with the prospect and decides to move on. She retrieves the leaf from the window sill of earlier before her conversation with the Head Purifier and steadily begins to make her way to the door when she freezes. Not to give way that she senses disturbance in the air, Morrien begins to preen said leaf. Gently tracing the veiny patterns of its smooth surface, Morrien listens, her ears tuning in to all the sounds near her in other rooms and hallways. She picks up the distinct sound of female footsteps coming directly towards her direction. Morrien's lips curl back into a snarl. It would seem that she would be allowed her confrontation sooner than she had thought. Morrien schools her face into smooth marble, a countenance of no wrinkles and imperfections that the Roman and Greek sculptors of many millenia ago would try to achieve. She patiently awaits for her countering player to arrive.

"Dame Vaako..." Morrien hisses cooly in her slyer way as she finally catches human vision of said challenger. A tiny, cheeky half smirk plays across her lips. She barely glances from her object of attention.

"Girl," says the Lady as her only acknowledgement, about to completely pass her when she stops. Apparently, she has found interest in the silencer of the Lord Marshall's attention.

'And the ugly beast rears its head,' Morrien mentally notes, snickering inside herself at her own words. Glancing up at Dame Vaako, Morrien comments, "Something of interest, Dame? I did not believe you would find anything of appeal here."

Dame Vaako's lips recoil in revoltion, "And you would be correct. There is nothing of appeal HERE."

Morrien smiles sarcastically, "As milady says then. A lady of your great status must have urgent business to attend to. I would not keep you from your duties." 'As whore of the ship,' Morrien snidely adds to herself in her mind. 'Thank what ever god that loves me that she isn't a telepath.'

"My duties can wait. As for you. Shouldn't you be off planning the assassination of some politician of high repute?"

"Oh, no, Milday. None that I need to fancy myself with. The Lord Marshall has not ordered yet, so I have not to purpose myself. I do as faith calls for. The Lord Marshall is of the highest faith and he has yet to call. So the cat tumbles into sleep and awaits the unsuspecting mouse at its maw," Morrien spins the last part as an afterthought, to somewhat confuse the Dame. Unnecessary, but quite amusing to find the Lady Vaako shooting daggers of obvious ignorance and distain. Morrien smiles cattishly, "As Milday may please, I shall remove myself to the Lord Marshall's quarters. I have been of great value to his scheme. He may have a victim for my talents yet." Upon second thought, Morrien adds, "It would seem that your husband may be sent on a wild goose chase. Perhaps I can curb his sentence." Morrien applies a victorious grin and nods to the almost sputtering Dame Vaako as she exits the room with the window.

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Morrien had lied of course. The Lord Marshall did not need to see her, he had seen her quite recently, so she makes herself scarce and adjorns to the Head Purifier's library. A place that Dame Vaako would surely never venture, as many others rarely do. Morrien loses herself among the many shelves and surrounds herself in literal mountains of books. She wedges herself into a level of shelf that she had piled the books out of and proceeds to read. The books she had built around her acts as a shield to the outside world. Anyone looking in would only see a mess of books and continue on their way. No one would notice, no one would see, no one would know, and that is how she likes it. Morrien settles into an easy space of familiarity, the world of imagination that these beautiful words paint in her mind. If only she could go to these places that these authors describe so specifically. She would never leave if such a feat could be accomplished.

//////////break//////////

Hours have passed in a great, wondrous silence like no other. A silence that she loved the most. Silence for the silencer. Near pure bliss. And then...it is broken.

The sounds of footsteps echoing the large room breaks her out of her dreamscape created by the books. The silencer instincts beaten into her every pore awakens and snaps into action. She ends her reverence for the books, setting it down onto her stomach to listen for a moment. Her ears twitch, listening to each individual step for personality, a skill granted by her training and body's chemical enhancement. Morrien eyes flutter and she breathes in relief, returning to her current study as she recognizes the person.

"What on...who could have done this? It's a complete and utter mess!" the owner of the footsteps mutters and hisses with some irritation. His steady to rapid to steady again pace like stepping portrays the aggitation in his body.

Morrien giggles ever so slightly, a small hint to this person. She gently closes her book and places it beneath her bent knees. Like a languid snake, Morrien eases up and almost slithers out from within the bookcase. With grace and complete quietness, she moves behind a particularly wide and tall tower of books, keeping her body close to the ground. She hunches back, ready to spring at any given moment. Her eyes dart back and forth, her ears flinching, she awaits the right moment, devious grin to her face. Morrien eyes become lidded, leaning down even lower to ground level, her joints tighten, her muscles bunch, a count down. A click of step, a good thirteen feet from the mounds of books...Morrien eyes snap open and she launches out. She flies through the air and lands on all fours before the speaker, she arches her back downwards, stretching her head straight up. Morrien's maw widens for a feline hiss. Mischief and devil's joy glitters in her eyes and triumphant curl to her lips.

"Holy Under!" the man stumbles back with a startled gasp. He pants with his fear. "Morrien!" he seethes. His eyes wide, his body shaking, his hand clutching his chest. "By the Lord Marshall, girl! I have the motivation to cross you in your sleep! Dare you give this frighted man such a shock to his heart! A day will come when I may see the Underverse before the Lord Marshall calls and all due to your games of treacherous scaring jolts!"

A deep laugh rumbles within the cage of Morrien's chest. "Thrilling love," she replies huskily. Her entire being reverberates with chillingly dark satisfaction. She pulls back, away from him, curling and moving her body which way and about. Tiny pops and cracks within her bones sound as she makes her catty stretch.

"No such love for I! You would do right to dash it out of your mind. I haven't the holiness to tolerate it," He shoots snidely, all the reprimand in His tone and gesture.

"Mmmm," she moans lowly, a certain underlying dominance to her person and way. She completely ignores His response. She seductively paws her way to Him, climbing slowly up His body and clinging to Him almost like a lover-worshipper. Morrien's entire being takes on the untameable feline spirit. Her hands find their way to His shoulders and hang to them as if they anchor her. Her body molds itself to His. "The Lord Marshall has returned you, what news do you bring?"

"Be grateful, my Dear Mistress Feline, that I am not a holy man," He stares intensely into her eyes, a scolding scent to his vision.

"No, but you are a very close equivalent and it makes me feel sinfully estatic," Morrien answers with an almost slimy sarcasm, one full of pride and satisfaction.

"If you wish sinful, then violate a true holy man."

"Been there, done that," Morrien waves her hand airily, her voice distant and bored. Back to seductress, "But you would be a wonderful tumble. Fancy a dabble?"

"No, my dear, fortunately, I do not. A man such as I have no interests in invading the crib." Morrien smirks dashingly at the comment of this man. "Come then, Mistress Feline, let us make to better place for conversation." He begins to stroll towards a room more suitably furnished for comfort and lounge. Morrien clings to His right side the whole entire time. He seats Himself in a large chair, large enough for two small persons to sit comfortably.

Morrien drops into the chair with Him, sprawling her lower body across His lap and her upper body latches onto His. Her arms wrap easily, comfortably around His neck. Her head leans back onto his shoulders. "Mmm," she murmurs in feint exhaustion. "Tell me, Sir, My Lord, Holy Purifier, what brings you back to me so soon? I had thought you leave to a mission of worthless conquest."

"I had been," the Head Purifier softly mutters his reply. One of his arms snakes around her waist and his free hand lies upon the armrest, drumming it with even rhythm. One of Morrien's hands form to point, her index finger trails along the ornate metallic armor like dressing upon the Head Purifier's carments. "But, the Lord Marshall called me back, deeming the mission wasteful." He misses Morrien's momentary smirk. "You know, strange thoughts arise out in the Black, so far away from the Armada. One questions oneself." He then even quieter, whispers into her ear, "One's faith." Morrien's body stiffens just enough to signal that she understands his meaning. He returns to his norm tone, "I could not help but wonder about myself, what of my individual being, but I soon lost profit in it. The moment I returned, I searched for you, you know."

"Did you...? To what avail, my lord? I am always near when here..."

"I felt the need to speak to you. Our conversations have license and depth. I feel a yearning for it. You must understand, my dear. I am almost alone here. No other speaks to me like you. No other possesses the insight and education that you do. No other shares with me that intense bright glow."

"I understand..."

"I am glad for that."

"Be at ease then, my lord. I have the highest esteem in you and the highest faith. My trust is yours. Cherish it."

"Of course. I will hold it deep beside my beating love."

Morrien smiles dreamily, "Hopeful poet."

"Am I?"

"To me."

"I feel joy for that then."

"A design has been set into motion, my lord."

"Design?" The Head Purifier glances down onto the top of Morrien's head at this. "To what distinction?"

"A Design of Fate. Little paths to take and eye for. Choices, small tiny choices that make ways. I have been a'gifted and a'cursed. I have set upon the playing field great changes by coming to this society. In all honesty and hope, may there be a way to save us all."

"What ails us?"

"A higher extinction. It will swoop down upon us and plunk is from the existing like a bird of prey does to an unfortunate rodent. I cannot murmur on that any longer. There is something to heed in the air. I feel ill at the slightest thought of possibility."

"Poor Morrien. Ease your soul while you are with me. Your angst becomes mine. Do give to this old man's selfish wishes. Only the most sweetest for me then, hm?"

"Only the sweetest." A pause and Morrien's brows furrow. "I do not recall claiming you an old man. Selfish, maybe, but never an elderly of persons."

"Ah, but you see me? I grow closer to it every day."

"Oh, you poor holy man. Let Mistress Feline take your worries away. You are nothing of an old man. So young and jubilant still! Aye, methinks you not more than a few moons elder."

The Head Purifier laughs heartily, "A few moons? Not a few moons, my dear, girl. More like several dozens of moons. I believe myself at least six years your senior."

"Six? So many? Not so! Six does not make you elderly, nor does it make you so much older than I. A fall with me would not be so horrid," Morrien giggles, kissing him just below the ear to prove a seductive point.

"Hush, girl. You bring evils to a holy man. You prove only to damned the saints."

"Aye! That I am! A succubus, a creature of the night! An instrument of the unholy darkness!" Morrien announces with great humor. She pulls herself up closer to the Head Purifier, changing her position of relaxed pleasure inducer to cattish love. She curls up a bit, leaning into him even more, tucking her head into the crook between shoulder and neck, loving the affection she is giving and receiving. "Only the sweetest. I want you to know, my lord. I hold you the dearest, before the Lord Marshall and before the faith itself. You are mine in the depths of my ever beating organ of blood."

"So many words to express just one concept. I return your affections, then," the Head Purifier's lips curves into a half smile. He draws his arms closer around her, leaning onto the top of her head. "I believe that if I could have ever been blessed with a child, I would hope that he or she would have your quality."

Morrien smiles sadly, "My quality? That of a silencer? A mourner? A cold shell of a former devoted and exuberant girl? What qualities, Sir? I have none that are so wonderful."

"This loyalty and affection. This graceful depth in your speech and mind. I appreciate your utter truth and complete devotion."

"Devotion?"

"Is it not another word for loyalty? You yourself claim that you are loyal to the faith. Could you not have devotion, then? How could you say 'cold shell of former devotion and exuberance' when you have all of these. Your devotion to the faith and your exuberance in frightening me half way to the Underverse." He chuckles at his own joke.

Morrien merely smiles in love. "If you say so, my lord."

"No protests or vehement arguement? A first, Morrien. Your usual deviation does not allow this sort of humor."

"No, but only the sweetest for you, yes? A moment so good as this, one can only bask."

"Ah...yes..."

"A good moment...if only these lasted longer and never ended."

"If they end, they can never make way for even better one."

"If only there was paradise and we could be stuck, stand still in it."

"Then life would be boring and we'd all die from the sorrow."

"Would we?"

"Sorrow from the happiness, yes. If one is of a constant grace, then one is of a constant boredom. Boredom can only bring sorrow for the perpetual unchange and deep sorrow only leads to death."

"So wise, my lord. So wise, if only my master had been so wise and affectionate. If only my master had not taken his profession."

"Your master?"

"My master that is not my master any longer. He is dead. I saw to it."

"Somehow I cannot find any sympathy in me."

"And it is well appreciated that you cannot. I would not want it."

"And for your no-longer-master?"

"He would have receive it. The Devil does not send along such hopeful messages. Hell is for the damned and hell is for the treacherous. The Devil conceives no hope to the pits of Hell."

"You constantly speak of this Hell and Devil. Do you forget your faith, Morrien?"

"I forget it not. Old habits are hard to break. However, I do find the stories of Devils and Hells encouraging. It gives me a sort of peace to think that all the deserving go to be enternally marred in continuous damnation."

"Tragic. You are a dark soul. Very dark."

"Dark and delicious. That was how he made me."

"You can be something different."

"And I had remarked, 'old habits are hard to break'. This girl has a long ways to go before all old attachments are severed. Some already gone, many more left."

"Yes...come then, my dear. We cannot dally here all day. There is work to be done."

"Work? When you have just returned? As a silencer, I have merely to await when called. Come then, let us take ease and return to the reality another time."

"A holy man could be easily led astray by you, Mistress Feline. You are a sinful type of seductress."

"And it works so well. Come then, my dear holy man. Let me lead you astray!" Morrien smiles cheekily.

The Head Purifier merely nods, chuckling along with her show. "Lead way then, Morrien. I shall follow you to the ends of the universe, only to keep you sane and alive."

Morrien laughs, "Then come with me to the ends of the universe, where we may slumber and never be brought to Judgement Day!"

Both lord and silencer leave the room hand in hand, like daughter and father. Dearly beloveds, they escape to their own world for a small time. They make way for each others' lives like no other could. All others are banished from their realm. They are the only ones to exist and they love it until it must be broken.

A/N: Yes, it's short, but I was hard pressed with getting my point out there. Although it does not seem like much has progressed within this chapter, there has been quite a bit. Please, follow the storyline and characters carefully or you will become either lost or very, VERY utterly surprised. Things build up to a conclusion, in the end, everything will be VERY clear. I have also decided that this story will have many tragedies. So be prepared. You may weep or you may fall into a sorrow. No fears! Just persevere! You'll get through and in the end it will all be worth it! I promise! If by the end you feel unsatisified, leave reviews, I'll read them and I may take it upon myself to continue on a different note. However, for the time being, REVIEW! I love feedback.