Trapped In Black

By: night flame miko

AN:

Woohoo! And the next chapter is up! :P

I have to say I seriously looked forward to this chapter, simply because it marked the next pretty important events in the movie (and now in my plotline too :D)

Hope you all enjoy this as much as I know I will :)

Warning:This is going to be a slash fic. Refer to previous chapters for full warning.

Disclaimer:Nope. Still don't own squat. Except this potentially wonderful plot. :P

And thank you to everyone who reviewed, there were some very interesting and wonderfully detailed ones. I think I've found that once you've written a story that's got more than a thousand reviews you find the ones with detail are the reviews to get excited about :)

And I've gotten more detailed reviews in this one story than in all my other stories, and for that I am very, very grateful.

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Harry sat leaning against a wall, watching everyone as they got ready to reveal what they had found.

It seemed that Harry and Riddick's timing had been perfect, because Johns met up with them as they were making their way back. Apparently he had come looking for them (Riddick) to make sure they 'didn't miss the party' (.i.e. Johns was worried Riddick was planning something nefarious and didn't want to leave him alone for too long).

Harry had followed them to this house, which had apparently been picked as the meeting place, and was watching as the other adult survivors slowly trickled in from wherever they had been exploring.

When everyone was there Fry stepped forward, about to start only to pause as Jack walked in. This was hard to tell at first glance, as Jack was now wearing some broken goggles and had apparently shaved his head. Jack paused and looked at everyone staring at him before asking with a slightly angry,

"What?"

Paris summed up what they were all thinking with a nice comment of,

"It's the winner of the look-alike contest."

Jack just glared and Fry decided to intervene before the boy decided to really emulate Riddick and killed Paris in a potentially horrifying way.

"Ok. What has everyone found?"

The room went silent before Imam finally spoke,

"There are clothes still on the racks and valuables still in the houses. I know I'm not that much of an intellectual, but I think that is some cause for concern."

Fry nodded from where she stood in the centre,

"I noticed the same thing. The people who lived here were in a hurry when they decided to leave, and I want to know why."

Harry shook his head slightly. They were making it sound like the people of the settlement had gotten out alive. It was fairly obvious that they hadn't survived, but he also knew why everyone was dancing round the issue. If the original settlers didn't get out alive, then it was more than likely that whatever killed said settlers would still be on the planet…with them.

But whilst Harry was willing to let them work it out for themselves, it seems that Riddick didn't have his kind of patience.

"Oh come on. You can't seriously think that they made it off this planet alive? There are still clothes in the closets and valuables on the shelves-"

He was interrupted by Shazza, and Harry noted the interruption. It seemed that despite the death of Zeke she still didn't want to accept the inevitable, which could prove problematic in the future if anything were to go wrong before they managed to escape this planet.

"That might not mean anything! They might have just been in a hurry…"

Riddick shook his head, a small derogatory smirk on his face.

"You can't honestly believe that. Why would these people have prepped the emergency ship if there wasn't a fucking emergency? Something happened, and since the ship is still here, prepped and ready to go, they obviously didn't make it out of here alive."

Shazza opened her mouth, obviously about to deny what he was saying again when Fry stepped forward, interrupting what she had been about to say.

"Riddick's right. Think about it, why would these people leave everything here including the emergency ship?" Turning to Riddick, who was leaning against the doorway smirking at the dismayed expressions on nearly everyone's faces (only Harry and Johns had already figured everything out already).
"What do we do then, Riddick?"

Riddick's smirk widened as everyone's attention focused on him, only for him to suddenly still, immediately turning from a relaxed man to a wary predator. Fry opened her mouth, about to question what was wrong when she was cut off by a terrified scream. Everyone's head but Harry's and Riddick's snapped to look in the direction of the scream.

The was a brief pause as the others tried to comprehend what that scream could mean, before suddenly Imam looked around noting the missing figure and jumping to his feet.

"Ali!"

Scrambling to their feet the others took off after the fast disappearing figure of Imam, leaving Harry and Riddick watching them go.

Riddick looked to Harry, seemingly questioning his still being there. Harry simply tipped his head slightly before letting out a small, sad breath of air,

"Considering how fast those things got Zeke, I wouldn't hold out much hope for Ali."

Riddick nodded but reached forward, offering a hand once again to Harry, who cocked his head at the gesture,

"The scream came from the direction of the Coring Room. You said you were trying to get in there. Now would be as good an opportunity as any."

Blinking at the man's words, Harry realised Riddick was right and quickly gripping the other man's hand he let himself be pulled to his feet before hastily making his way outside and in the direction of the Coring Room, Riddick following easily behind him.

Considering Harry still had to pretend he was limping he managed very quick speed and arrived just in time to see Johns shoot through the door, managing to fire through the chains on the other side.

The doors were flung open, and Imam threw himself inside with Johns following after and Harry limping in and around Johns. All was quiet except for Imam's calls for his pupil, until the Muslim reached a pair of double doors to the side of the room and just about to touch them he was flung backwards as hundreds of tiny bat-like creatures flew out.

Imam curled himself on the ground and Harry, who had made his way around the room, pushed himself against the curved wall whilst Johns hastily stepped back outside and pulled the doors shut behind him, stopping the creatures from following him outside.

This mattered little to Harry, though, as he was now more than close enough to tell where the magic was coming from. It was the creatures. The magic was pouring off of them in small waves and just like him; the magic they generated was getting sucked away by something else. Pushing his magic up to his skin he watched as the creatures that had been flying in circles and drawing steadily nearer to him, suddenly flew away, seemingly able to sense him, much as he was able to sense them.

Apparently the creatures decided it was time for a strategic retreat (if they were even capable of sentient thought, which Harry seriously doubted) and flying up to the top of the domed roof in a long line they all spiralled back down into a hole in the centre of the room, disappearing from sight.

Harry's attention was diverted briefly when Imam gasped a horrified 'Ali!', and looking over he could just make out the corpse of one of Imam's pupils lying just beyond the double doors Imam was in front of. The muslim bowed his head and small mumbles could be heard, as the man obviously prayed for the soul of his young apprentice.

Harry left him to his prayers and instead watched as the others cautiously opened the doors once again, obviously very wary of what they would find beyond them. From where they stood they had a clear view through the double doors, and seeing what it was Imam was praying over the two women in the group bowed their own heads and said a quiet word. Johns and Jack made their way into the room, Jack slightly paler than usual, and it seemed seeing the body had thrown the boy off guard as he was walking in a much less stiff manner then he normally did.

Riddick was no where to be seen.

Limping his way over to the hole Harry heard the others (except Imam) make their way after him. Peering down into what appeared to be the mining shaft he motioned at it with his cane,

"The creatures flew down here after making a few circuits of the room."

Johns reached into a pack he kept with him and after rummaging around he pulled out a flare. Lighting it he tossed it down, the green glow highlighting the bones of what could only be the previous settlers littered within the walls and all along the bottom of the shaft.

"It seems they tried to escape those things by coming in here, locking themselves behind the thickest steel walls in the area. Must have forgot to lock the cellar though."

Riddick's grim humour fell on deaf ears as he stepped out into the area between the wire mesh platform they stood on and the ground floor, looking into the shaft as the flare died down. They all stayed in that room awhile, talking quietly amongst themselves or sitting off to the side thinking of what they could potentially be up against.

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They had all separated again, moving off to explore or just be by themselves for a short while.

Harry had chosen to make his way to a house a short distance from the meeting room, giving himself enough room for some privacy but close enough that should something happen he would be in easy calling distance.

His solitude lasted a short while before a shadow crossed his doorway and he looked up to see Riddick framed in his doorway.

"You find what you were lookin' for?"

Harry cocked his head to the side, regarding the man before nodding slightly. He realised that there would be a time for questions but he had hoped for some more time before they came. Riddick took his nod as an acceptance of the unasked question and promptly stalked into the room, giving off the vibes of a hunter closing in on its prey.

Deciding to pre-empt the strike Harry began talking as Riddick leaned against a wall, giving himself height over Harry who was sitting with his back to another wall,

"I've been thinking about it, and I think I know why I can't send my energy out without it being sucked away…"

Looking up to Riddick, Harry tipped his head to the side inquiring as to whether Riddick was at all interested in his theory or not. Riddick tipped his own head forward slightly, accepting the invitation though he did smirk slightly, telling Harry that he had caught onto his game and that he wouldn't let it last over-long.

Harry leaned his head back against the wall, closing his eyes as he thought, though grinning slightly at allowing himself to bare his throat with an unchained predator mere feet from him. The thrill of anticipated danger was completely worth it.

"I think…that the atmosphere of this very planet eats my magic-"

Stopping and looking at the other when Riddick cleared his throat, the other's eyebrow raised Harry realised what he had said and waved a hand negligently,

"Magic is the term me and my…people use to describe the energy we can manipulate. It is the easiest term to use as with the energy, and enough of it, we can do pretty much anything. So as I was saying, I think that this planet's atmosphere…absorbs magic...I noticed that it was those creatures who gave off their own magic continuously, and that their magic was frighteningly similar to my own, though only in smaller quantities…I had thought about it earlier and it makes sense…"

Turning to Riddick Harry gestured with his hands, trying to get the other to join in his enthusiasm for discovering something new,

"You see, I had wondered how this planet's ozone layer could possibly withstand 3 suns, and how there could still be oxygen making up this planet's atmosphere when there are no living trees to speak of and the only water is apparently deep underground. It didn't make sense.

"But now it does. You see, I think that this planet evolved and it's creatures with it. It changed itself so that it's very atmosphere and ozone layer take the magic generated by the creatures on this planet to convert any carbon dioxide into oxygen and fix any damage to the ozone layer caused by the three suns rays. The planet and its creatures live a purely symbiotic life where one cannot survive without the other…though I wouldn't really say this planet was surviving as the creatures have long killed anything else that lived on its surface."

Throughout his whole explanation Harry had waved his hands about and even stood up, pacing slightly as he put into words the idea that had been forming in his head since he first sensed other magic beyond those doors. It made complete sense, but unfortunately it also made things a lot more difficult. Because whilst Harry could find and destroy any object that was absorbing his magic and then use the rest of his magic to fix the ship and get everyone off this godforsaken planet, he couldn't destroy an atmosphere/ozone layer…Well, he could but only if he wanted to be the only survivor.

And so, if he was right, he was going to have to do this the hard way. Harry honestly couldn't say how long it had been since he had had so much fun.

Looking up Harry ignored the fact that Riddick was staring at him with a raised eyebrow and an amused smirk on his face. He knew that he was not acting much like his usual detached self, and that Riddick probably didn't understand a word he was talking about, but he couldn't much care right now.

In fact, the realisation that there were other creatures with magic in this universe had sparked off an idea about another problem he had come up against.

Striding forward until he was level with Riddick, Harry looked up into the uncovered eyes.

"I think I know why you can see magic. Where I come from, it is known as 'mage-sight', but normally only people who control my type of energy could use it. I can't sense any magic in you, but I suspect that you don't have the same type of energy as me and that for me to sense it properly I would have to put some of my magic in you. I have never done this to someone else with magic before so I think that I should at least give you the opportunity to say no, in case something goes potentially wrong."

Riddick looked down at him, his eyes narrowed marginally as he regarded Harry. He could honestly say that he was curious about his sight as well. He had always assumed that it allowed him to see signatures generated by heat, but that had recently been blown out of the water.

He needed to know what it was he was actually seeing, because if there was one man who lived by the saying, 'Know thyself better then thy enemies', it was Riddick.

The true question was, would he allow himself to put his trust into a man he had never met before this trip…A man who could do impossible things, like change his hands into blades and nearly blind Riddick with the energy trapped within him…

Shrugging Riddick waved a hand carelessly to the side,

"Break a leg."

That slightly quirky smile appeared on Harry's face as he raised his hands and placed them on Riddick's chest. If he wanted his magic to make it into Riddick without getting sucked away, he was going to need to touch the other.

Ignoring the shaped muscles and heat generated under his hands Harry gripped a small part of his magic, and deciding that since he couldn't sense Riddick's magic at all despite being almost as close as physically possible, he thrust his own magic as far into the other man's chest as he could, intent on finding even the smallest traces of magic.

The reaction was instantaneous. It was like Harry had plunged himself into controlled chaos. Everywhere about him, encompassing him was the feeling of Riddick. Everything that made up Riddick surrounded and attacked him, protecting and caressing him, ending and starting him all at once. He could feel the magic now as if it had always been there. Matching Riddick's personality, the man's magic hid within him, just beneath Riddick's skin it was different then Harry's magic. Whilst Harry's could be used to do anything with the right incantation and amount of energy, Riddick's magic was used purely to increase everything that made up Riddick to astronomical proportions. The man's sight, his smell, his emotions his instincts. All of that energy was used to increase those aspects of the man, and in that way Riddick's magic was almost animalistic. Magic was thrashing and purring, growling and stalking, all of this surrounded Harry, moving along the magical senses he had pushed into the man, rubbing along his mind like some barely controlled feline.

And as Harry stood on shaky legs, his eyes closed and short, panting breaths escaping him, he could only conclude that it was the single most sensual thing he had ever felt in his life.

Riddick wasn't in much better a state. Sweat was forming on his brow and without conscious thought his body moved forward, trapping Black's hands between them, where the energy linked the two of them together.

He hadn't known what to expect, but it certainly hadn't been this. It was as if some single, bright, uncontrollable light strode into him from Black. He could feel it within him, and if that light could have a taste, he would say it was of wild things. Riddick knew that the light he could feel within him was Black, it was the other man's very essence, his soul and that everything that was the man could be seen within that light.

The light itself he could see in his minds eye, lighting up the darkness with it's ferocity, pushing with unquestionable power outwards in it's never ending war with the shadows. And yet he had no doubt that Black could and would win. Because he could taste it. Black tasted of age and wisdom, of years upon years spent everywhere and anywhere.

And the power there…

He hadn't known whether to truly believe what Black had said about being able to do anything with magic, but now he couldn't question it. Riddick knew that this man, if he wanted something; world's would crumble and nations would perish for him to get it.

Lowering his arms around the slightly shorter man, he pulled Black against him harshly. Riddick wanted to taste it, he wanted to see if that light he could feel within the other tasted as he imagined it would. Pushing his head into the crook of Black's neck he dragged his tongue along the tanned column, feeling the other man's wildly beating pulse and his panting breath against him. Closing his mouth Riddick savoured the taste. It wasn't as he had imagined it, but then he was more then distracted by the power still within him; of the light that made up everything that was Black trapped somewhere within his own chest.

Harry and Riddick both weren't sure of where things might've gone from there, but they didn't find out in any case as Fry's voice broke through their very fogged minds. Pulling his magic out of Riddick, Harry shuddered as the overwhelming feelings disappeared as if they had never been. Only their memories prowled their way through his mind.

He didn't complain when Riddick didn't let go of him immediately, simply leaning against the other, welcoming someone else's support for the first time in a long while.

Finally Riddick drew back and Harry stepped away as well, both of them simply regarding the other before Riddick finally spoke,

"What are you?"

Harry looked at him silently for a long while before shrugging slightly and bending down to pick up his cane, he answered,

"I honestly have no idea…I am…something."

Riddick snorted, not needing to say how that was the understatement of the century (millennia?). Hearing Fry continue to call everyone back to the meeting room they both gave each other a long look, mentally recuperating before pulling themselves together and making their way out of the house and back down the street.

It was only on their way back that Riddick noticed that Harry was limping again and using his cane for support, letting out a bark of laughter he shook his head,

"You don't need that. You never have needed it."

Harry just grinned and tapped the side of his nose,

"That's just between you and me though, right?"

Riddick simply grinned, seemingly amused with the idea of such a small secret in comparison to the rest of what Black was hiding. Which, now that he thought about it… Turning to the other man Riddick had that small smirk back on his face,

"Well if you wanted to distract me with something, that was certainly one way of going about it."

Harry cocked his head, grinning slightly as well,

"Oh? And what is another way that you would suggest."

Riddick's smirk widened,

"Sex."

Shaking his head Harry just snorted,

"Why am I not surprised?"

At that Riddick cocked his head to the side, seemingly genuinely thinking about the answer,

"Well you shouldn't be, that was as close to sex as it gets without penetration and even that part is debatable, what with your whole magic-voodoo thingy."

This time Harry looked insulted,

"Voodoo thingy? I'll have you know that my magic has absolutely nothing to do with that doll playing crap."

Riddick smirked,

"Oh, I think I've hit a nerve. Should I do it again?"

Swinging his cane, Harry lightly swatted Riddick on the back of his legs,

"Don't get cocky just cause I can't use my magic right now. I have more than enough tricks up my sleeve to not have to rely on magic."

At Harry's decidedly manic grin, even Riddick knew when to leave best alone. Instead they simply made their way down the street, both thinking of what they had just experienced and what they had learnt about the other.

It seemed they both had a lot to think about.

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An:

Sorry I know this one is slightly shorter than the others, but it is late, and I am tired and simply wanted to get this chapter up. If you see any spelling errors, sorry and if you could just let me know, I will be more than happy to fix it.

Hope you all enjoyed it, I don't know where this idea came from but it has been bugging me for the past two days, so I hope all you rabid slash fans enjoyed it. I sure had fun writing it :P

Till later, and please tell me what you think, I would love to know how I am doing with this pairing.

-night flame miko