{"id":855,"date":"2024-11-16T08:11:52","date_gmt":"2024-11-16T13:11:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/?p=855"},"modified":"2025-01-28T23:20:35","modified_gmt":"2025-01-29T04:20:35","slug":"the-changeling-game-chapter-83","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/the-changeling-game-chapter-83\/","title":{"rendered":"The Changeling Game, Chapter 83"},"content":{"rendered":"<style type=\"text\/css\">\ntt {\nfont: .857em menlo, monaco, consolas, monospace;\nmargin: auto;\n}\nh2 {\ntext-align: center;\n}\nh2.chapterhead {\nmargin-bottom: 2em;\ntext-align: center;\n}\n  .nowrap {\n    text-indent: 0;\n    display: inline-block;\n}\n<\/style>\n<p><b>Title:<\/b> The Changeling Game <small>(Formerly <i>Identity Theft<\/i>)<\/small><br \/>\n<b>Author:<\/b> Ardath Rekha<br \/>\n<b>Chapter:<\/b> 83\/?<br \/>\n<b>Fandom:<\/b> <i>Pitch Black<\/i> (2000); <i>The Chronicles of Riddick<\/i> (2004); <i>The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury<\/i> (2004)<br \/>\n<b>Rating:<\/b> X<br \/>\n<b>Warnings:<\/b> Adult themes, controversial subject matter, harsh language, explicit sexual content<br \/>\n<b>Category:<\/b> Het<br \/>\n<b>Pairing:<\/b> Riddick\/Jack<br \/>\n<b>Summary:<\/b> Riddick believes Kyra\u2019s dead. Audrey is certain that she isn\u2019t. Confronted with the strange truth, there may only be one way for the two of them to cope with it.<br \/>\n<b>Disclaimer:<\/b> The characters and events of <i>Pitch Black,<\/i> <i>The Chronicles of Riddick,<\/i> and <i>The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury<\/i> are not mine, but belong to Universal Studios.  I just <i>wish<\/i> I were in charge of their fates.  No money is being made off of this.  I\u2019m writing strictly for love of the story.<br \/>\n<b>Feedback:<\/b> Absolutely, the more the better!  Shred me, whip me, beat me, make me feel grammatical! I post \u201crough,\u201d so I can always use the help. \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n<input type='hidden' bg_collapse_expand='6aee64d8968206098867980' value='6aee64d8968206098867980'><input type='hidden' id='bg-show-more-text-6aee64d8968206098867980' value='Long post is long. Click to read the story.'><input type='hidden' id='bg-show-less-text-6aee64d8968206098867980' value='Hide the story again.'><button id='bg-showmore-action-6aee64d8968206098867980' class='bg-showmore-plg-button bg-green-button  '   style=\" color:#D9ECFB;\">Long post is long. Click to read the story.<\/button><div id='bg-showmore-hidden-6aee64d8968206098867980' ><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"chapterhead\">83.<br \/>\n<u>Shape, Shell, Soul, Body<\/u><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">At least, Audrey thought, Riddick\u2019s dark mood made sense\u2026 even if nothing else did suddenly.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She felt like they were in some weird game of verbal Chicken, each waiting for the other to break the silence as they stared, baffled, at one another. He thought Kyra was dead; she <i>knew<\/i> her sister <i>wasn\u2019t.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cJack,\u201d he finally said, his words deliberate and his expression almost cautious, \u201cshe died in my arms. I was holding her. She stopped breathing. Her heart stopped beating. I <i>felt<\/i> her die.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She had walked with Kyra just that morning, showing her images of Elodie and her life on Deckard\u2019s World, slipping through the mists of Canaan Mountain\u2019s forests, revisiting the crash planet, until Lucy had summoned her back <span class=\"text-nowrap\">into\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Hmm.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Lucy? Can you settle this for us, please?<\/i> She projected, making sure that Riddick could hear her as well. He gave her a quizzical frown.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>What would you like settled, little one?<\/i> Good; Lucy was somewhere in the room, although that could possibly get awkward soon.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cRiddick believes Kyra\u2019s dead,\u201d she said aloud, \u201cbut I know she can\u2019t be because I was with her just this morning. And you and the other <i>Apeiros<\/i> told me she was safe and you had her, over a year ago. Can you tell Riddick what\u2019s true?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Your sister, Kyra, is safe with us, yes. Her five-shape is protected. Her shell failed last year, but I pulled her five-shape out before it could fail as well.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cHer shell\u2026\u201d Audrey paused, realization hitting her. She remembered all the talk about shells and shapes, years ago, much of which hadn\u2019t made sense at the time. \u201cHer body? Her <i>body<\/i> died?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Riddick nodded in agreement, his expression still discomfited. \u201cThe old Lord Marshal threw her across the room. She hit a spiked pillar and five of the spikes impaled her through her back. She managed to pull herself off, but she was bleeding out when I got to her.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Audrey felt the gentle touch of one of Lucy\u2019s long, cool arms on her cheek. Riddick had turned his face away, unable to look at her non-human sister\u2019s impossible shape for more than a fraction of a second. <i>This is true,<\/i> Lucy said. <i>I was there. I pulled her five-shape from her shell and brought her to safety.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>\u201cSafety?\u201d<\/i> Riddick demanded, his eyes darting toward Lucy and then away again. \u201cShe <i>died in front of me.<\/i> Where the fuck is the <i>safety<\/i> in that?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>She will be reborn.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWhat, \u2018born anew\u2019 in the fucking <i>Underverse?\u201d<\/i> Riddick snarled, standing up and pacing. \u201cWe both know there\u2019s no such place. The Underverse is a <i>lie<\/i> your <i>brother<\/i> cooked up to keep his <i>minions<\/i> pacified.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>That is not how she will be reborn,<\/i> Lucy replied, her telepathic voice calm. <i>But the Underverse, as his vessels conceive it, may indeed exist somewhere among the <b>infinite<\/b> iterations of reality. Most of the ways they imagine it, they have come up with on their own.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cGods don\u2019t write books,\u201d Riddick muttered. \u201cThe fuckers leave that to the people who think it\u2019s <i>mystic<\/i> voices they\u2019re hearing in their heads\u2026\u201d He shot a furious glance at Lucy, still close enough to Audrey that he could only look their way for an eyeblink. \u201cSo how <i>will<\/i> Kyra be reborn?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Audrey will bring her back when the time is right.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201c\u2026The fuck\u2026?\u201d If Riddick could have, he\u2019d have stared at Lucy in disbelief.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">It was news to Audrey, too. \u201cUm, when will that be, Lucy?\u201d She had a pretty strong suspicion.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>After your hatching, you will be ready.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Riddick kept <i>trying<\/i> to glare over at Lucy, but kept being forced to look away. \u201cHer <i>hatching?<\/i> Into her fuckin\u2019 <i>six-shape?<\/i> You need to tell me something right the fuck <i>now<\/i> about that, because I\u2019m about ready to \u2019jack this psycho-fuck voyage if I don\u2019t get some better answers. Is this fuckin\u2019 <i>hatching<\/i> gonna break <i>her<\/i> \u2018shell?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>No.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYou\u2019d better be sure about that,\u201d he growled.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>I am certain. Her hatching approaches, but her death, as you understand death, is still far distant.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cSo, uh\u2026\u201d Audrey had to defuse the tension between them somehow. \u201cRiddick saw Kyra\u2019s <i>body<\/i> die, but you pulled her soul out before it could die too\u2026 you\u2019re keeping it safe\u2026 and I\u2019m gonna somehow re-corporealize it after I\u2019m able to move in <i>six<\/i> dimensions?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Riddick had frozen, a look of horrified comprehension on his face. \u201cFuck. So that\u2019s what he was trying to\u2026 mother<i>fucker<\/i>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWhat?\u201d she asked him, but he shook his head, lips pressed together in a hard line.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Your summation is accurate, Audrey. When the time comes, you will know what you need to do.<\/i> She could no longer feel Lucy on her back and shoulder. <i>I think you two have much to discuss alone. I will be near, should you need me, but not <b>too<\/b> near.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Riddick had closed his eyes. He shook his head, his lips silently forming words. Audrey, fortunately, had been trained to read lips.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Too much fuckin\u2019 destiny in this shit\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cRiddick?\u201d She kept her voice soft.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI shouldn\u2019t be here,\u201d he murmured.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cHere?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cAnywhere near you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She reached out, trying to get a sense of what he was thinking, feeling, in spite of the powerful shields he kept up between them. Rage. <i>Out<\/i>rage. Fear. Fear for <i>her.<\/i> And\u2026<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>And there it is\u2026<\/i> She walked over to him and rested her hand on his cheek again.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cJack\u2026 you should go.\u201d His voice sounded pained. He hadn\u2019t opened his eyes.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cGo where?\u201d she whispered, stepping closer.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cAs far away from me as you can. Everything I touch dies.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cNot everything,\u201d she told him.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYou\u2019re all that\u2019s left.\u201d His voice was the barest thread of sound.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cRiddick.\u201d She found herself barely able to restrain a laugh suddenly. \u201cYou spent the last several hours surrounding yourself, surrounding <i>us<\/i>, with friends. I\u2019m <i>not<\/i> all that\u2019s left.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">He opened his eyes, his expression shocked and confused. Didn\u2019t he realize how many people had come to love him that day?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cBut,\u201d she told him, \u201ceven if I <i>was<\/i> the only one left, you don\u2019t have to be so afraid of losing me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">His lips pursed as he began to form a protest, an objection. It was more than she could resist. She brought her lips to his and kissed him, the way she\u2019d dreamed of doing for years.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">He froze for a second and then, with a groan, wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close, taking over the kiss with barely constrained hunger. She still couldn\u2019t get a read on his thoughts, but his feelings were clear: desire, longing, lingering fear for her safety\u2026 some kind of desperate need to wipe out the horrors of the \u2019verse by losing himself in <i>her\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She slid her hand from his cheek to the back of his head, the stubble almost feeling like velvet beneath her palm, and wrapped her other arm around his back as she opened her mouth to him. Their tongues slid against each other and Riddick groaned again, deeper, pulling her even more tightly against him. She could feel his growing arousal, the disintegration of his worries and inhibitions, as his hands stroked her back and then moved to grasp her thighs, lifting her up and wrapping her legs around his hips.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">He walked back over to the bed, never releasing her mouth, and then lowered her down onto the firm surface before breaking the kiss.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">His hungry expression was strangely vulnerable. \u201cAre you sure you want to do this, Jack?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cAbsolutely.\u201d She reached down, pulling off her shoes and socks and dropping them over the side of the bed, before scooting into its center. \u201cC\u2019mere.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">He started to climb onto the bed.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>\u201cWhoa!<\/i> Whoa there. Shoes. Off.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">That, it turned out, was exactly the right thing to say. Riddick barked with laughter, the last of his dour mood dissipating as he sat on the edge of the bed and unlaced his boots. \u201cDemanding right out of the <i>gate<\/i>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cAnd don\u2019t you <i>forget<\/i> it,\u201d she quipped back.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">His boots and socks removed, Riddick climbed onto the bed, crawling toward her with an almost predatory grin on his face. \u201cSo, now that my <i>shoes<\/i> are off, you got any other demands you want to make?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWe\u2019ll see,\u201d she told him, beckoning him closer with a smirk. She wasn\u2019t going to let on, for even a second, that she was having a massive case of what felt like <i>stage fright<\/i> right then. A fantasy that she\u2019d cherished for <i>years<\/i> was about to become reality, and in response, she was suddenly having crazy performance anxiety.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Maybe he was, too. His answering smirk seemed to be hiding something more serious beneath it.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWill we, now?\u201d Riddick asked as he reached her, looming over her and gathering her into his arms.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She brought her hand up to his cheek once more, marveling all over again at the <i>reality<\/i> of him after years of dreams, the face she\u2019d wondered if she\u2019d ever see again, glimmering eyes that had haunted her for so long. \u201cWhere the hell can I get eyes like that?\u201d she murmured, recalling the first time she\u2019d seen them.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The emotion that appeared on his face in response was intense and complex, hints of sadness and longing mixed with fondness and desire. \u201cMaybe I wasn\u2019t entirely truthful about where,\u201d he told her. \u201cShine jobs are real, but I never had one.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYou weren\u2019t born with them, were you?\u201d Had he been able to see into the dark from the moment of his birth?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cNah\u2026 my earliest memories have colors I can\u2019t see now. I lost those colors and gained new ones while I was bein\u2019 conditioned by the Quantifiers. Keepin\u2019 me in the darkness all the time suddenly stopped workin\u2019 as well for \u2019em once I started seein\u2019 into the ultraviolet and infrared. I didn\u2019t even notice that my eyes had changed their look until later.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">That was right; in one of the pictures Stacey had shown her, all those years ago, his eyes had been brown. He\u2019d looked young in the picture; she just hadn\u2019t realized quite <i>how<\/i> young he\u2019d been. She wondered when, and how, Michael\u2019s eyes had changed; he\u2019d never undergone the same kind of brutal conditioning that Riddick had, but she\u2019d seen his silver eyes, undisguised by contacts, just once. On the last night she\u2019d been herself for a while. \u201cIs it a Furyan thing?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cMight be. I don\u2019t know enough <i>about<\/i> Furyans yet to be sure. \u2019Cept for one thing I realized earlier today when I was talkin\u2019 to Lucy. I know where we came from now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWhere?\u201d she asked him, even as she slid her hands under his sleeveless shirt and began pulling it up his torso.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">He helped her take it off, baring his chest as he answered her. \u201cThe second of your missing Star Jumpers, Jack. The <i>Nick Fury.<\/i> All this weird talk about \u2018lightbringers\u2019 and \u2018lightbearers\u2019 and the \u2018Light of Furya,\u2019 and it suddenly hit me why nobody was talkin\u2019 about \u2018fury,\u2019 even though I\u2019ve used that light as a <i>weapon.<\/i>\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">How had she missed that? She rested the palm of her hand on Riddick\u2019s chest and closed her eyes, focusing on his <i>shape.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">There: the soft flow of energy not of this \u2019verse, an innate part of him\u2026 no <i>material<\/i> element of him was straddling universes, and no energy <i>exchange<\/i> was occurring, but there was a wellspring of power from some other \u2019verse, and he was tapped into it. She could feel it singing through him, subtly harmonizing with his string frequencies, a perfect <span class=\"text-nowrap\">symbiosis\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Something her father had told her, years ago, came back to her. <i>The Caldera shouldn\u2019t exist. Nobody can figure out how it does. It isn\u2019t volcanic. It isn\u2019t anything that ought to be there. The fire, or whatever it is, just flows up from the ground for hundreds of miles. It looks like auroras rising up out of the rocks from a distance. The native population \u201cfire walks\u201d through it as part of a lot of ceremonies. I\u2019ve seen them do it, stepping into the fire, their clothes burning right off their bodies, but they come back out without a mark on them, not even a singed hair. The old Lord Shirah told me that they\u2019re the children of the fire itself, maybe a year before the ceremony where he passed his crown, not that he ever wore a crown, to a young woman who became the Lady Shirah\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">That fire, she realized, was flowing through Riddick even now.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cInteresting,\u201d Riddick rumbled above her, and she realized that he\u2019d been \u201creading\u201d her the whole time. \u201cI never knew about that part. But fire doesn\u2019t burn me. Guess now I know why.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cIt\u2019s like there\u2019s a living fire <i>inside<\/i> you,\u201d she whispered, feeling awed. \u201cIt\u2019s so beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI\u2019m glad <i>you<\/i> think so,\u201d he said, his voice pensive. \u201cSeems to me, though, the \u2018beautiful\u2019 in this room is <i>you<\/i>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Guys on the make had often pulled out the word, but Audrey had long ago learned that guys would say almost anything if they thought they could get sex out of it. It was much more meaningful to hear it after the little courtship dance was complete, the outcome already a given, almost as meaningful as <span class=\"text-nowrap\">when\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">No. This was not the time to think of other men, especially not <i>that<\/i> man. The important thing was what Riddick had said, because\u2014aside from maybe stretching the truth about shine jobs\u2014he had never once lied to her.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She tried to pull him closer, but it was like trying to budge a boulder. Instead, she pulled herself up to him, molding her body against his and kissing his mouth again. Her move stirred a low growl in his chest; a moment later she was pressed down on the mattress by the weight of his body. His hunger drove the kiss as he explored her mouth. He wrapped her legs around his hips again, pressing his erection against her; the wave of answering hunger and arousal that crashed through her made both of them gasp.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYou know,\u201d he murmured against her lips, \u201cI\u2019m <i>tryin\u2019<\/i> not to go buck wild here, but you\u2019re makin\u2019 that really hard\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cMaybe I\u2019d like it if you <i>did<\/i>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYou might be insane,\u201d he laughed, lifting his body away a little and sliding his hands under her tunic.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She arched her back and raised her arms so he could push the tunic up. Once he had it over her head, she pulled it off her arms and let it drop to the side, next to Riddick\u2019s discarded shirt. When she returned her gaze to him, he looked transfixed.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She hadn\u2019t been able to find a bra her size among the discards left behind by the old Lord Marshal\u2019s harem, so she hadn\u2019t had anything on under the tunic. Maybe, she thought, Riddick hadn\u2019t expected that. He was staring at her as if he\u2019d never seen bare breasts before.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>\u201cYou know,\u201d<\/i> she parroted back at him after a moment, \u201cyou\u2019ve seen the twins lots of times in my memories.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cNot like this,\u201d he whispered. He reached out, almost seeming afraid that he would shatter her with the lightest touch, and cupped his hand around one breast, stroking his thumb over her nipple. Her back arched as the sensation of his touch jolted all the way through to her core.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She slid her hand over his chest in response, cupping the swell of pure muscle under <i>his<\/i> nipple. <i>He\u2019s hard where I\u2019m soft\u2026<\/i> \u201cI\u2019ve had a lot of fantasies about this moment,\u201d she told him as he bent his head and brought his lips to her throat.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cMmmmmm\u2026\u201d His lips and teeth grazed her skin with remarkable gentleness. \u201cI tried <i>very<\/i> hard never to think of you that way.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">That made sense; she\u2019d been a kid when they\u2019d parted, and had probably stayed a kid in his mind until they\u2019d met again. \u201cWhere did you go after you left New Mecca?\u201d she asked, tilting her head back to give him better access.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYou\u2019re gonna laugh,\u201d he murmured in between nips at her skin. \u201cYou remember the planet you <i>almost<\/i> misdirected Toombs to?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Holy shit.<\/i> \u201cYou were on UV-6? That planet\u2019s <i>insane.<\/i> A great big ball of Fimbulwinter!\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cOn the surface, anyway,\u201d he chuckled, nibbling at her collar bone. \u201cGet undergound, though\u2026 there are hot springs. A lot of subterranean life, whole ecosystems that never see the sun. Funny thing is it made me think of the merc ship we\u2019d been on.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Audrey wondered what the members of her Amnesty Interplanetary chapter would think if she told them that Richard B. Riddick read <i>poetry<\/i>. During her \u201csleeper\u201d year, their low opinion of him and \u201cthugs\u201d like him had left her confused as hell about what was true. \u201c\u2018Caverns measureless to man?\u2019\u201d she asked him.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201c\u2018Down to a sunless sea,\u2019\u201d he quoted back. \u201cThe water was probably too hot for most people to swim in, but I don\u2019t burn. Or boil.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">No, he just ignited fire in every centimeter of her skin that he touched. \u201cThat sounds amazing. I\u2019d have loved to see it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYou\u2019d\u2019ve hated <i>smelling<\/i> it,\u201d he said with a soft laugh. \u201cRotten eggs. Most of the hot springs smelled like that, so I stayed near the surface even if it <i>was<\/i> cold.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cStill\u2026\u201d she found herself wishing she\u2019d been there with him.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">He lifted his head from her throat, his expression turning sad. \u201cI couldn\u2019t take you with me, Jack. That would\u2019ve gone bad fast. You were way too young for what would probably have ended up happening.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She wanted to argue, but she knew he was right. \u201cI <i>was<\/i> fantasizing about something like this happening back then\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cThe two of us alone on a cold world, with nobody else to turn to for warmth, and your hormones going out of control the way they did when you were on Tangiers Prime\u2026\u201d He raised an eyebrow at her. \u201cRecipe for disaster. And no, even if you were dreamin\u2019 about it, you weren\u2019t ready for it. The reality would\u2019ve broken the dream, probably broken <i>you.<\/i>\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She nodded. It was pure truth. He\u2019d have resisted as long as possible, but she\u2019d been tenacious and overconfident at that age, and would undoubtedly have turned up naked in his bed, maybe sneaking into it after he\u2019d fallen asleep\u2014assuming she <i>could<\/i> sneak up on him\u2014in an attempt to get past his inhibitions. The results might have been disastrous for both of them. She hadn\u2019t had her shots <span class=\"text-nowrap\">yet\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cFortunately, I had mine,\u201d Riddick told her.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Eavesdropper!<\/i> she thought at him in her fiercest mental \u201cvoice,\u201d not really bothered. He smirked at her.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cBut just because I wouldn\u2019t\u2019ve given you a disease or gotten you pregnant, wouldn\u2019t\u2019ve changed the fact that it would\u2019ve been dead wrong and would\u2019ve hurt you in other ways.\u201d  His expression became regretful. \u201cLast thing I ever wanted to do was hurt you, but I guess one way or another it was inevitable.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI\u2026 think that was more Imam than you,\u201d she told him. With her memories back in their proper places, she could see clearly how the Holy Man had tried to \u201cscare her straight,\u201d thinking that killing Chillingsworth had put her on a dark path he needed to rescue her from, and had twisted everything, even Riddick\u2019s nearly-wordless <span class=\"text-nowrap\">departure\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>\u2014eyes catching faint glints of light like a pair of tarnished coins as he bent down, his lips brushing against her forehead\u2026 \u201cSorry, <span class=\"text-nowrap\">kid\u2026\u201d\u2014<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u2014into an indictment of what he\u2019d believed she was becoming.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The genuinely angry growl that started deep in Riddick\u2019s chest, perversely, sent a thrill of arousal through her. \u201cThe <i>only<\/i> reason I told the hoodoo where I\u2019d gone was so he could contact me if you ended up in trouble\u2014which he fuckin\u2019 never did\u2014and so he could tell <i>you<\/i> where I was once you were an adult, if you still wanted to come looking for me then.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWhat would you have done if I had?\u201d Audrey asked him, already certain of the answer.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWhat I\u2019m about to do now, probably.\u201d He kissed her collarbone again and began to kiss his way lower, nuzzling at her breast. \u201cOnly reason Toombs got a bead on me there at all was I got a proximity alert about a ship coming in, and I was hopin\u2019 maybe you were on it \u2019cause the timing was right, so I\u2019d gone out to look\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cSorry,\u201d she found herself saying as she arched her back. His arms tightened around her waist as he planted a kiss on her nipple, startling a moan out of her.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cNah, don\u2019t be. I got a nice little ship out of it. <i>And<\/i> a heads-up that the holy man was using the information I gave him for his own ends. I wondered if you\u2019d be there when I got back to Helion, but I gotta admit\u2026\u201d he kissed her nipple again, circling its tip with his tongue. <span class=\"text-nowrap\">\u201c\u2026I<\/span> was relieved you weren\u2019t <i>in<\/i> on his bullshit.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Audrey moaned again, Riddick\u2019s mouth undoing coherent thought for a moment. She found herself wondering what might have happened if she\u2019d <i>been<\/i> waiting for him on Helion and he\u2019d found her there, believing her to be Imam\u2019s accomplice. Suddenly, the thought of him maybe making her his captive felt intensely erotic.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYou want,\u201d Riddick murmured, \u201cwe can play that out sometime. Don\u2019t look for me to tie you up or anything, though. Not my kink.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She could definitely understand why it wouldn\u2019t be.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">He was kissing his way down her abdomen, closer and closer to the waistband of her leggings, which he had hooked his fingers into and begun to pull down over her hips. Her panties were snared in his grasp, too. She arched her body so that he could slide all of it down more <span class=\"text-nowrap\">easily\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cFuck, Jack,\u201d he groaned. \u201cHow are you so wet already?\u201d He sat up, pulling her leggings and panties off of her completely and tossing them aside before moving to spread her legs and kneel between them.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201c\u2019Cause I\u2019ve been waiting for this for longer than you want to know,\u201d she told him.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cDon\u2019t even know what I want to do first\u2026\u201d She could see him contemplating options, and could see the option <i>she<\/i> wanted most straining against his cargo pants.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cIn that case,\u201d she told him, \u201cI have another <i>demand.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">He laughed, a look of surprise and delight spreading over his features as he unbuttoned his pants and pushed them down. \u201cLet me just get these off my legs, Jack.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cSo I\u2019m Jack again?\u201d she asked, watching him as he moved to sit next to her for a moment and pull his pants off the rest of the way, his erection proudly saluting her the whole time.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cSafest name for you,\u201d he told her with a grin. \u201cEverybody here already knows you by it\u2014knows it\u2019s the name of the girl I\u2019ve been looking for, anyway. Connecting your birth name or any of your other aliases to it could unbreak your trail.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Whoops. He was right. She probably shouldn\u2019t have called herself Audrey in front of Chantesa Vaako.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>What\u2019s done is done\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYou\u2019re really okay with the whole Jack B. Badd thing? Even knowing where I got it from?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cC\u2019mon, it\u2019s a <i>classic<\/i>.\u201d He smirked at her. \u201cJack B. Nimble, Jack B. Quick\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Oh, he was going to play like <i>that<\/i>, was he? She sat up and \u201cpounced,\u201d straddling his lap as his liquid silver eyes widened. \u201cJack B. ready to ride your <i>dick<\/i>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">He threw back his head, mostly, she thought, so he wouldn\u2019t guffaw right into her face. \u201cShit, girl, where were you when I was playin\u2019 the dozens with the other kids in government housing?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI was probably pre-verbal back then,\u201d she laughed. If she\u2019d even been born yet at all. \u201cWouldn\u2019t\u2019ve been much help. But enough about that\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">He groaned when she reached down and wrapped her hand around the shaft of his erection. His breath caught as she positioned it against her and sank down onto his length, burying him deep inside her. \u201cFuck\u2026 right to the <i>hilt\u2026<\/i>\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI\u2019m greedy like that,\u201d Jack told him as his arms came around her again and he pulled her mouth to his.<\/p>\n<p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Title: The Changeling Game (Formerly Identity Theft) Author: Ardath Rekha Chapter: 83\/? Fandom: Pitch Black (2000); The Chronicles of Riddick (2004); The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury (2004) Rat","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"bgseo_title":"\u201cThe Changeling Game\u201d 83: \u201cShape, Shell, Soul, Body\u201d","bgseo_description":"Riddick believes Kyra\u2019s dead. Audrey is certain that she isn\u2019t. Confronted with the disturbing truth, there may only be one way for the two of them to cope with it.","bgseo_robots_index":"index","bgseo_robots_follow":"follow","footnotes":""},"categories":[9,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fan-fiction","category-the-changeling-game"],"permalink_manager":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=855"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/855\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1131,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/855\/revisions\/1131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}