The Chronicles of Riddick: Blood Rage

The fight with Victor was too short in my opinion. But it was one of those battles none would soon forget. That much is certain.

A problem soon arises, though, and that makes me worry, just a little. Apparently, it was something that needs to be resolved. The problem is that it won’t be easy to do.

In the meantime, though, it seems that we’re a group now; myself, Riddick, Kiley, and Ramza. Can we actually work together, or is it one of those things that would fall apart real quick? Riddick thinks so, though Kiley is confident that it wouldn’t. We’re not a ‘psycho-fucked family,’ or however Riddick called it, in her opinion.

I guess time will tell...

Disclaimer

I don’t own Riddick, nor any of its characters, plots and/or planets. The only things I do have a claim on are characters and planets that will never make an appearance in the movies and books, since I created them. That is all. XD

“Get them!” Victor growled through his gritted teeth, and the next few minutes were hectic. Bullets whizzed by, some grazing skin along the way. But the four people surrounded by Mercs were avoiding them like they were flying by in slow motion. Though obviously for Kiley, it was, but the others just had the reflexes only the Mercs could wish they had. Rosalia spun for several bullet-seconds before going in at one Merc, who panicked. Throwing his weapon in the way, he tried to pull the trigger. But the weapon was thrown from his grip, along with his hand. He screamed from the dismemberment of his limb before he was knocked silly by Rosalia’s fist at the back of his head, just above the neck.

With one less Merc at that second, that meant one less weapon firing. But Riddick made quick work with his current target, his blades in hand. Leaping right into the air with forward momentum, he crossed his blades, then sliced forward as he got within the Merc’s reach. The head went flying, and he didn’t feel sorry one bit as the body crumpled behind him. He looked up and moved in time for the butt of an gun aimed at his head. With a smirk that quickly spelt death for the Merc that just tried a move that was his last mistake, Riddick spun around to the back of the man and sank one blade in the sweet spot. Blood gushed out with fevered relief as he yanked his blade back out, already scouting for the next man stupid enough to be fighting them.

All the while, Kiley had taken one for herself, which was Razor. With a smile as though a mother was trying to coax her child out of the mud, she watched him as he uneasily gazed back at her. It was amazing that Kiley seemed to put him out of his want to fight with only a look.

“Why yes, you’d find that Elementals are all that you’ve heard, and more,” she said as though he had asked a question. Which, in all reality, he was going to ask it if she had kept silent. “It’d be a good time to back out and leave your employer.”

His eyes bugged from the answers to his unspoken questions. But at least he had the smarts unexpected of a Merc. With a nod, he withdrew the barrel of his gun from its target and moved away. He looked sullen, as though Victor would figure out who was suddenly betraying him, but Victor wasn’t paying the least bit of attention. Ramza was keeping all of his attention at that moment. After all, he was in his face and was throwing punches that were unexpected of Ramza; Victor thought he was a geek, nothing more.

“Why are ya helpin’ her, anyway?” Victor said, attempting to taunt Ramza. “Did she promise ya a good fuck for doin’ this?”

“Heh, you’re so naive,” Ramza said instead, a mocking grin replacing his frown. “It’d be stupid to fight her instead.” He scored a blow in the chin, though in the same exchange, Victor had slammed the butt-end of his Gatling gun into Ramza’s eye. Ramza cried out and stumbled back, while Victor was only stunned for a few minutes. He may be unable to walk very well without pain shooting up from his knee, thanks to the girl, but his aim was impeccable.

Hearing distress, Rosalia looked over to see Ramza clenching one fist while his other hand was held against his bleeding eye socket. With a growl as she wiped away the blood that was trailing down from the base of her horn since the first Merc was killed, she charged away from the Merc she was fighting, when he got back to his feet after being knocked out for a few minutes, to get at Victor, at a speed he was unprepared for. She attacked his knee first, making him yell out as she kicked it from the front first, then behind it. Before he had the chance to fall though, she then attempted to knee him in the chin. But with sudden strength, he grabbed her ankle and threw her to flip backwards, having to spread her wings out to correct herself before she ended up hitting the ground shoulder-first.

With the momentary exposure to any attacks, the Merc she abandoned to fight Victor took aim and shot at her wings with his remaining hand. Out of ten bullets, two scored a graze on her shoulder and her left wing. That was when her attempt to hold back from killing snapped like thread. Her eyes turned entirely silver, no sliver of brown left as she turned on the Merc and grabbed him by the throat, squeezing with her entire strength; the windpipe crushed in as blood gushed from her claws, curling them through the skin and muscle before ripping the pipe out. He gurgled and tried to draw breath in, but to no avail. He died as she released what was left of his throat and turned back to Victor, who had wide eyes. All but one Merc was dead, and the one that was still alive had backed out of the fight entirely. He was on his own.

“This is nothin’, I can still get out of this,” Victor said to himself as he raised his gun, backing into his ship. “I’ll get myself a better crew with yer corpse!”

“You talk too much,” he heard behind him. Before he could whip around with his gun, Riddick’s blade stuck itself between ribs, making the man fall with shock on his face.

“I-I... know yer face now,” Victor hissed out as he tried to stop the bleeding. Riddick walked around Victor with little care nor worry. Rosalia started forward to finish the man off, but Riddick grabbed her by the shoulder and roughly stopped her.

“He’s as good as dead,” Riddick said as she turned to him with a protest. But he seemed to be wrong by Victor’s account, who crawled into his ship and slammed his palm against the controls. The door closed before Riddick realized that the spot he aimed for was missed. Oh well. “Well, he will be if he doesn’t see to a doctor real fast,” he then said in a tone like he was commenting about the weather instead. The woman huffed as she glared at the rising ship, which quickly left the surrounding area. Letting her go, he turned to the remaining Merc around that was alive. “Now we don’t need to kill you, do we?”

“Oh no, I’m done, I ain’t on stupid,” Razor quickly said as he raised his hands while he took a few steps back.

“He’s fine,” Kiley said nonchalantly as he walked off at a fast pace. “We won’t have to worry about him again. Just Victor.”

Rosalia sighed heavily at that though, but she was also trying to not turn on Riddick; after all, as a killer, he thought he had hit his target. At least the next time Victor showed his ugly face, she’ll get the pleasure to kill him in a fairer fight... “Ramza, how is your eye..?” she said instead as she walked toward Ramza, who was still holding his hand against his eye.

“It’s hurting like a bitch, what do you think?” he said grimly, looking at her with his good eye. “Damn, you do bleed,” Ramza then said as that good eye widen a little. It just meant that she did bleed when others were hurt or killed when she’s around.

“We all bleed, now let me look at your eye,” Rosalia said as she rolled her eyes before kneeling next to Ramza to pull his hand from his head. She flinched visibly as she paled a little; the sight of a popped eye was a little more than she thought it would be. “No problem, I can fix that,” she said with a faint tone that sounded like she was resisting the impulse to vomit, clearing her throat as she touched the tip of her horn against a corner of the eye. Closing her eyes to not watch the process of the eye reshaping back into its original form and fixing its blood vessels and optical cords, she remained doing that for about five minutes.

Ramza finally let out a relieved sigh as she pulled away and wobbly got to her feet. He had blood to clean off his face, but he could see out of both eyes again. “Thanks. I should probably repay the favor,” he said as he indicated to the bullet-grazes on her shoulder and wing. But she shook her head as she smirked.

“Oh no, those can heal very well on their own. Don’t waste your energy on scratches,” she said before she turned to Riddick and Kiley. Neither of them seemed to have injuries, so she was in the clear. “That fight did not last long,” she said with an even tone, watching Riddick bend down to examine her handy-work. Her eyes faded from silver to brown once again, so she wasn’t feeling particularly murderous anymore. She felt a slight amount of remorse, but that was all that was there as she looked down at the Merc that she killed.

“The best that there can be,” Riddick merely said as he slipped his blades back into their sheathes. He preferred quick and clean kills. Her kill was practically torturous to the poor fool, suffocating and drowning in his own blood. His lungs was probably full of blood rather than air. “You should take a personal note on that.”

Rosalia narrowed her eyes, just a little. “I prefer my own method,” she said cooly, smirking as though to show that she was stuck to that idea. But she wasn’t. Before the bluff could become nothing more than that, she turned away to wipe her hands on the grass.

Riddick allowed it to stand. For now. Besides, having Ramza and Kiley watch was too strange. “Have it your way,” he chuckled as he walked past Kiley to head back to the small town, which amazingly hadn’t noticed the bloodshed that happened just minutes ago. After all, murder and death was expected in the human society, no longer such a ‘forbidden’ act like it had once-upon-a-time back on Earth. Where it was once thought their planet was the only hospitable one in the known universe and beyond. “About time to leave this planet for me.”

“Can we come?” Kiley asked, and though Riddick didn’t falter in his steps, he merely shrugged a shoulder. It was like he didn’t care either way. With a grin, Kiley gave Rose and Ramza a thumbs-up, making Ramza smile and Rosalia look confused. “Well c’mon, slowpokes! Let’s go before he changes his mind; he’s the only one with the ship around here,” Kiley said as she raced after Riddick. Ramza shrugged as he turned and followed, but Rosalia remained to look at the small signs of life. This planet still had a long way to go, but maybe she helped enough to have it breathing its own life to the plants. Waiting for the others to be far ahead, she finally turned and walked after them slowly, humming lightly to herself. The blood-soaked and burned grasses sprung back to life, along with new patches of it as she walked on. It’d be one way to forget how the fight went.

- - -

No news of the deaths were heard for the last day that the small group of people used to prepare for the trip into space once again. But there were strange rumors of a planet, Quartzite-Two, one of the top-producers of weapons and engines, falling victim to strange hostile ships. The factories were destroyed, and while there were no survivors, there weren’t any bodies to be found, either.

Now that was strange news, as well as frightening for the residents of Aquila Major. But to the four prepping to leave the planet, it didn’t bother them any where near as much. Just a little concerning; they could very-well run into those ships.

“We won’t,” Kiley said in a cheerful tone as they entered the building they’ll be spending their last night in; the quarters onboard the ship would be crowed as it was, so they may as well enjoy one night without the crampness before heading off-world.

“Any idea what those ships belong to?” Riddick asked in a casual tone, but the inquiring was to rest his uneasiness of the possibility that it was Necromongers at work again.

“Well, no, not really. But it’s no Necromongers, not by those methods,” Kiley replied with a shrug. Even Riddick had to look at her with slight surprise.

“An Elemental, not knowing?” A tug at the corner of his lips was suppressed.

“‘Ey, I resemble that remark!” She placed her hands on her hips and attempted to glare. But her eyes couldn’t quite make it work; Elementals were capable of many things, but they lost a few human traits as they gained something more over the many, many generations.

“Somehow, you failed in your retort...” Rosalia said with no surprise, walking away before Kiley could throw her own remark at the girl. All Kiley could do was stick her tongue out at the retreating figure.

“Ever since the fight, she’d been more irritable,” Kiley huffed slightly. “I’m glad I’m not sharing the same quarters with her,” she then laughed. After all, Rosalia may just pass that mood of hers onto the one Elemental that could received others’ mood just as well as she could share her mood; Water Elementals could actually ‘press’ their calm moods onto others. Rose, unfortunately, happened to be an exception. “I have pity on you, Riddick.”

Riddick was sharing the same area with Rosalia, considering that he was more comfortable around her than Kiley and Ramza; Kiley was entirely too unpredictable, along with her ability to know what he was thinking before he knew it. With Ramza, Riddick still didn’t trust him, nor did he trust him to be in the same area with Rose alone.

One could only curse at the limited spaces the manager could provide.

“I think I prefer her mood over yours any day.”

“Everyone conspires against the lonely Elemental!” Kiley exaggeratedly threw her hands into the air, but the remark didn’t even bother her like it could for someone else. “Good thing Ramza is coming along for the ride; he’s more fun than the two of you put together!” Riddick could have rolled his eyes if he was really listened to the complaints that didn’t mean anything to the Elemental in the first place.

“Then have fun with him.” He left her to her own devices. Ramza watched him walk by with a unknown expression on his face.

“Seems like you need to have time to yourself,” he commented. Riddick didn’t answer him, but he did feel like he needed to get away from the Elemental, who had achieved the ‘most annoyance’ title that was originally given to Aereon. Who would have thought there was someone more annoying than the air Elemental. “Of course, though, it’s not like I know what I’m talkin’ about.” Quite the correct answer for Ramza to say. “You’ll have it better than Rose.” Now that was different.

“What do you mean by that?”

“She’s an Yamako - she feels far more than physical pain.” He could see that Riddick doesn’t quite understand the reason. “Alright, a more thorough explanation is needed. The Yamako race are far-more intune with nature, but that doesn’t stop there. Most of us can feel other beings’ emotions and pain, whether it’s physical, emotional, or psychological. She isn’t an exception to the ‘rule.’ In fact, I think she felt the deaths and wounds of those Mercs worse than I had.” He tapped at where his horn would be. “Did you notice the blood on her face before she washed up? It wasn’t from getting nicked by a bullet.”

Riddick had noticed, but he hadn’t even gave it a second thought about it. Bullets were flying everywhere; it would have been impossible to not get nicked by any of them. “So you’re saying that every time someone near her gets hurt...”

“She gets hurt, exactly. Well, really, we both do, but she’s got it worse.” Ramza shrugged a little as Riddick took those facts in. “The headaches has to be a killer every time she steps foot on a planet.”

‘Then it’s no wonder she’s not a people-person.’ “I’ll keep that in mind.” He started his way down the hall again.

“You’re Riddick, aren’t you..?” Ramza didn’t get an answer back, but it was more like a silent ‘duh’ than Riddick trying to deny it. “You’re not what I expected... But don’t bring any harm on Kiley or Rosalia. Again, though, not like I know anything,” he then laughed lightly as Riddick walked out of sight. Like he would bother to kill the women. Ramza could be another story, but he wasn’t in the way. He wouldn’t bother wasting his time killing possible allies, after all.

‘No. You don’t know anything, not of me.’

The last room to the right was where he and Rosalia would be staying for the final night on Aquila Major. Ramza and Kiley would be in the other hallway, second room from the beginning of the walkway. They may be far from one another for any situation, but at least they’ll know where to find each other. It was the best they could hope for.

“Knock knock,” Riddick called out as he pushed the door open. Rosalia rolled her eyes while she sat on a chair; it was like he was expecting her to be nude and dancing like an idiot. “You’re quite a gal, you know. Having all sorts of people willing to stick their necks out for you.” Then came a sigh from Rose.

“And frankly, I do not understand why you or anyone would bother.”

“So, frankly, it wasn’t our place to pick your fight. Is that right?” Riddick chuckled as he closed the door behind him. “You seemed pretty lost without some backup.”

“Are you implying that I could not handle the situation on my own..?” she replied icily. Riddick smirked as he walked past her to the small bar each room was supplied.

“I’m just saying that having others help wouldn’t hurt.” He found his target and pulled the bottle out of the racks. “You’re the one twisting my words to take insult.” Hearing a sigh, he knew that it would instantly take the fight out of the current situation. Kiley was right; she was easily irritable after the fight. “You should try to relax, Rosalia, the fight’s over.”

“Do you not see me reclining on this chair?” she threw at him with a light smirk. At least her mood seemed to be improving. She then raised an eyebrow at him as he uncapped the bottle of brandy to take a mouthful of it. “Why should I not be surprised?” Rosalia said with a laugh.

“Surprised about what?”

“I would not have taken you for a man that drinks,” she answered with a shrug.

“Mm.” Not really caring, Riddick passed by her again to claim a bed for himself. “It won’t disturb you, will it?” he questioned, raising an eyebrow. He didn’t care either way, but she seemed to concern herself about liquor.

“Of course not,” she said as she raised both hands as though he was trying to strike her down with that question. It was just self-reflex on her part; she doubted that Riddick would actually get offensive over questions as stupid as that. She started to chew the piece of gum she had more vigorously as she shrugged again and then turned to look out the window just to avoid answering actual awkward questions she could bring upon herself.

Riddick actually continued to study her for a minute, wondering idly what she was thinking before mentally shrugging. “So what are your thoughts on Ramza?” he asked, taking another drink of the bottle. She turned to look at him with curiosity.

“Why? What for?”

“Well, tell me if you think he’s trustworthy, and of what other thoughts you have from your impressions,” he merely answered as he waved a hand at her, trying to coax her into talking. He wasn’t sure why he would want to hear opinions, but it was better than nothing. “After all, he could be just after you, whatever his reasons.”

“Doubtful,” she slowly said as she popped another piece of gum and started chewing more. The strong smell of spearmint was caught by Riddick over his booze. “I merely take him for a strong companion with strong instincts,” she said as she shrugged. She didn’t seem to have much connection with him other than that they came from the same planet. That added as a bonus to Riddick, since he personally didn’t like the other man. At least she didn’t have personal feelings to him; if Riddick had to kill him for a personal reason, she wouldn’t bitch as much.

“That’s it, eh?”

“Were you expecting me to say something else?” she sighed. “I do not know him any more than you do. It is not like I would know by just meeting him.”

“Alright.” No need to make her upset, so Riddick changed his game. “You certainly chew a lot of gum, for someone who doesn’t have addictions.”

Rosalia huffed as she turned back to look at him again. “I can deal with my stress, you can deal with yours with booze,” she retorted.

“You chew gum to deal with your stress? Interesting. Though what could you be stressed about?” Victor wasn’t much of an issue at the moment, so it couldn’t be him. “Can it be that you’re feeling... guilty?” She growled, and he got his answer; she grudgingly was. “You shouldn’t be, not with Mercs like them. In fact, you should be feeling quite relieved.”

“You have no idea what nearly snapped out of me,” she said gravely as her eyes silvered a little. “It could have been worse than the fight had gone.”

So it wasn’t the death of the Merc that got her riled up. It seemed that she held back for another reason. A different reason.

“Well then. I guess stopping you while you’re in that state helps.” He grinned as she looked confused. “Then I better have you stick around so that you don’t snap. Seems that I’ll be the only one to do the job.”

“Psh.” She smirked lightly, able to have a little bit of her humor restored. “Now that is a first.”

“You don’t seem to object.”

“We will just see how this could last. After all, you can quit once you see how difficult the ‘job’ can be.” She sounded so sure of it, too.

“Mm. We’ll see.” He could prove her wrong, and he intended to do so. He also intended to see just how more dangerous she could be when the gloves are down and she ‘snapped.’ It should be quite something to behold. Something as dangerous as he was.

The silence filled the room for quite awhile, Riddick slowly consuming the bottle of brandy and Rosalia just chewing her gum, lost in her own thoughts. She wasn’t much to elaborate on how much worse the fight could have gone, but Riddick figured he would find out soon enough. After all, there were going to be many more fights to come.

“Have you asked him about your world yet?” Him, meaning Ramza. Why bother using his name, since there were no other males in the team? Rosalia shook her head slightly, half-closing her eyes. “Afraid to hear the answer.”

“Yes.” She half-shrugged, though. “Though it will eventually arise.”

“It seems you already know the answer, though,” he said.

“Maybe... but I better get the whole truth from Ramza’s mouth.” She closed her eyes. “Why just us...?” she murmured quietly, and Riddick didn’t answer her. It was meant as a question for her to ask Ramza, when she got around to it.

“I hope Ramza has his answers ready,” he said with a light smirk.

And down to the other half of the building, Ramza sneezed a few times.

“Wow, bless ya,” Kiley said as she held back a giggle.

“That was weird...” he said as he scratched the tip of his nose. “There isn’t dust in here, so why did I sneeze?”

“I dunno.” Kiley shrugged, but her giggling ruined the neutral composure she had. Ramza sighed lightly, knowing that he was getting laughed at. “Maybe someone’s talkin’ about you?”

“That’s a human wives’ tale,” he retorted as he gave her a weird look. “Anyway, on to what I was saying.” The sneezing interrupted his collected thoughts, so he took a minute for himself. “So how come Rosalia is so serious most of the time?” he continued.

“Well, up til the age of thirteen, she was more energetic and playful, but that was before her foster parents’ murder,” Kiley said as she reclined on one of the beds. She was certainly at ease, even when she was telling a sad story. “Like most other people, the murder hit her hard. The trouble was that it was done by someone that seemed to have known her. She doesn’t remember what he look like, but she says she’ll remember his laugh.” She shrugged. “I dunno what he looks like, either; I wasn’t around to witness the crime. I met her on my planet five years ago, which made her about fifteen.” Kiley then giggled. “Boy, what an encounter that was! She looked like what she is now; your species reach a maturity level earlier than humans, even Elementals! But anyway, she just about scared every young Elemental off until I met up with her.”

“I’m afraid to hear how you tamed her,” Ramza said half-heartedly, his thoughts mostly on who could have murdered Rosalia’s foster family. It seemed to be familiar to him.

“A little bit of water dropped out of nowhere certainly surprised her,” Kiley answered with a grin. “She glared at me, knowing that I had done it. After all, I was the only Water Elemental around at the time. Though I dried her before she could think about attacking me, so I made her curious instead of murderous. Of course, at the time, the Necromongers were on the move, so while I was running errands, I kept Rose in the loop; I quickly got attached to her, even though she tried a few times to glare me to death. She’s just a lot of fun, and best of all, she wasn’t another Elemental.” She grinned again. “Earth Elementals are arrogant and prideful, so maybe it was a surprise to meet someone that can control nature pretty well without having to be an Elemental. She was just quiet and cautious; maybe that’s why I was drawn to her.” Kiley shrugged mostly to herself.

“So how come she came to your planet?”

“She was just traveling planet to planet, on the search for clues of your guys’ world.” She smiled lightly. “Which brings me to a question; when do you plan to tell her about why you two and maybe a few others were sent off-world?”

Ramza sighed. “I don’t know. It’s going to be difficult to tell someone that had been looking for her home world that there won’t be one for us.”

“Come again? So it is dead?” Kiley questioned further, her blue turquoise eyes showing a little bit of distress.

“Well... it’s not dead, but there isn’t going to be a welcoming committee, either.” He shook his head. “I’m afraid to even see the devastation that rendered our beautiful home, so I have no idea how worse-off it actually is.”

“You know where your home world is at, coordinate-wise?”

“Yeah, I was old enough to remember what was going on, and of the instructions the escape pod had on the screen on the lid. It showed where I was being sent off, the coordinates of my home world to the coordinates of the closest inhabitable planet. That was two months of journeying, though I was in cryosleep.” He shrugged a little. “I dunno about Rosalia, since she was younger. We can’t purify air with our horns until the age of three, when we reach about the maturity level of a eight year old. So I don’t know how long she was in her pod, nor where she was sent. In all reality, she would have died in her sleep if it was longer than a month worth of journeying.”

“That’d be when she was picked up by a human couple that were traveling archeologists, then.” Kiley smiled lightly. “She probably was heading for a nearby planet, but something had sent her off-course, and she was picked up by friendly people.” She then shrugged again. “That’d be my guess.”

“Mine, as well.” Ramza sighed. “I guess that’ll be one problem I’ll have to overcome whenever she asks me about our world.”

“That’d be what big brothers are for, eh?”

“...I guess.”

WELL, I finally finished. XD; I was stuck after the fight was over, so I had to go through many thoughts of how the conversations would go. Let me know how you like the chapter, and I hope to see you at Chapter 7!