A Wish Is A Dream The Heart Makes.

A.N: I am not entirely happy with this chapter; I may take it down and replace some of it, later. There's going to be a short delay on the next chapter. Real life is calling. Loudly. I want to thank everyone who has reviewed. This chapter just has to be dedicated to Faery's Delight, who is teaching me the fine art of multi-tasking!


Chapter five: For We Did Survive


Xander woke aching; he was pleasantly surprised that as Caliefnos had said it was really not that bad. And the longer he was conscious the better he felt. He tried to move, wanting to test some of his supposed new abilities, before he recalled that Frank had told him he would wake in the cryo-tube. 'Okaaay, strength, speed and endurance testing are obviously out, how can I find out if the change took though? I don't feel different.' He thought a little dismayed, ' Um, I know senses, that'll tell me, and no need to move. Which'd be of the good' Xander opened his eyes and looked around, at first seeing no difference. Gradually, it dawned on him that there was a difference; the ship was mid-flight, all the passengers and crew were in cryo-sleep that meant the ship was only minimally lit. And yet, to his eyes the darkness was as clear as day.


'Can't check my hearing yet there's nothing really to listen to, although I think the ships sounds are louder and clearer. Smell's working though' Xander had been feeling a growing awareness of the scents around him, one in particular. A strong scent masculine, fierce and wild. It was a scent that he immediately classified under 'sexy and more now, please'. He grinned 'That must be Riddick.' Xander started to try and label some of the more vivid scents around him when the ship began jerking and the noise of what to him sounded like gunshots interrupted him. He found reason to curse his enhanced senses when the emergency lights and sirens started to go off. After several moments, he managed to adjust to the racket and began to listen hard for a clue to what was happening. He thought he heard shouting, a man and a woman, coming from the cockpit-thingy, but aside from the man's clear cry about not touching a handle it was all muffled under the wailing of the alarms. His new memories told him that the cryo-sleep tubes would deactivate in an emergency, so he waited, impatiently, for his to unlock.


All around him, people were starting to wake and panicking when they realised they were in danger. Xander though felt surprisingly calm. Which he found a little weird. Even as it became obvious they were most likely about to crash he didn't feel touched by the panicking around him. He just waited for the last of the fuzziness of the cryo-sleep to leave him. Thinking it over, he decided that it would be safer to remain belted in the tube during the impact than to risk getting thrown around the passenger bay loose. He could feel the ship shaking and sensing that it wouldn't be long before they crashed, so he braced himself as best he could and began to pray that both Riddick and he would be able to walk away from the coming impact. The ship hit the ground fast and hard, the pilot seeming unable to exert any control over it. It continued forwards breaking up as it went. Half the passenger bay broke off tossing the cryo-tubes around scattering them brokenly across the land in a trail of death and destruction. Finally it slammed to a halt. Xander felt himself be thrown forward to the limits of his tubes safety webbing, he felt his arm hit something and break. His head shot forward and struck the glass door to his tube he heard it shatter before he lost consciousness.


The silence was sudden and deadly as the ship settled. Slowly at first then building rapidly, moans were heard and people started to move; amazed that they had survived, coughing and reaching in the dust filled air. They began calling out to their friends or families hoping that others they knew still lived. One man pushed himself upright forcing the metal and other debris off of him and as soon as his eyes could focus staring at a tube in front of him... the empty tube in front of him. He quickly reached behind him as if to draw a weapon but he found his holster empty. Glancing around him he made his way away from the other survivors and towards the darker areas, watching the shadows warily.


People started to gather, searching the remains of the ship; looking for the trapped or unconscious. A longhaired brunette woman searched with her partner, checking each tube they came across in the hopes that more had survived. She let out a cry as she heard weak calls for help and banging from the third she checked. Quickly some of the others gathered bringing tools to cut the tube open and free whoever was trapped inside. Working together they managed to cut the hinges off the door and it dropped open to reveal a boy of about fourteen. He lay there for a moment before looking up at his rescuers, before saying dryly "So I guess something went wrong?" Rolling their eyes at him they all turned away and moved to continue the search for survivors. The boy quickly scrambled to his feet and went after them.


A young woman dressed in the crew's flight suit, ran past them as if they weren't there, searching through the clutter. Looking desperately for her fellow crew member. She finally came across an overturned pilots seat and pulling on it with all her strength managed to heave it onto it's back. He was impaled through the chest by a metal pole. She leaned in close to him and whispered quietly under her breath "I'm sorry." She leant forward and placed a gentle hand on his pale forehead. The apparent corpse gave a violent jerk shocking the woman, making her fall back away from him.

"Get it out of me!" The man yelled.

The other survivors hearing the sudden commotion rushed over. Pausing when they saw the seriously injured man. The woman reached out but before she could touch it, one of those watching told her to leave it, it was to close to his heart to remove. Seeming to agree, the stricken pilot called out;

"Don't touch that handle! Don't you touch that handle!"

The woman hung her head, before saying with increasing hysteria, "Get out! Everyone, get out!" slowly they did as she asked them and they left her to return to the search for more survivors.

They were about to give up on the search when the boy, they'd freed earlier found one more occupied tube. It leaned drunkenly at an angle, half obscured by a large sheet of twisted metal. It's glass door had shattered but held in its frame, mostly there was a hole at the top, just large enough for a head to fit through. There was also blood on it. The brunette woman ignored the boy's protest and insistently moved him to the back of the group; she felt he didn't need to see what it probably contained. The pilot earlier had been enough. None of the dead were a pretty sight and he was young. She moved in to get a better point of view. As she leaned reluctantly towards the hole, a hand suddenly emerged making her scream in fright and causing the others to jump. A voice came from behind the broken glass, muffled but recognisable as young and male,

"Oops, god I'm so sorry! I thought I heard someone so I just wanted to let them know I was stuck here, youseehonestInevermeanttoscareyoudoyouthinkyoucouldgetmeout?" The voice picked up speed and devolved into indecipherable babble. After she felt calmer she spoke; interrupting the relentless stream.

"Hey! Kid don't worry we'll get you out now. Hey Zeke," she gestured to a tall dark haired man then at the door, obviously telling him to get a move on. Nodding the man stepped forward and placed the bent metal bar, he was using as a crowbar, over the lip of the hole in the glass. The hand withdrew back inside the tube. Zeke carefully began to pull on the broken door easing it away from the tube. Abruptly all at once, as soon as the bar touched the door, it collapsed; falling down in a shower of broken glass. Zeke stood, bar still extended and feeling slightly foolish, staring at the newly revealed young man. The stranger blinked once at the suddenly vanished glass.

"Oh man," Xander whined, "you mean to tell me I could have been free by tapping on it? I didn't need to wait on you guys rescuing me? Man that's the story of my life!" he slumped briefly in the harness and Zeke hurriedly, belatedly lowered the bar. Xander straightened and began to release the safety webbing, struggling to undo it with only one hand. The other he kept cradled close; protectively. Zeke moved to help him and between them they soon had him free. Stepping out his foot caught on the strap of a small canvas backpack, Zeke steadied him as he fell and supported him as he bent down and scooped it up before straightening up and grinning at his 'rescuers'.

"Hi everyone! Thanks, Zeke! I'm Xander nice to meet you all." He offered, with a small wave with his uninjured arm. Zeke gestured at the long haired woman, "My wife Shazza, the kid's Jack." He pointed at an older dark haired man with a familiar, fussy look to him, who instantly put Xander in mind of Wesley. "That's Paris. And tall, fair and curly is Johns. He's responsible for keeping us safe from a murderer...who also made it, don't worry though he's chained tight over there." Zeke inclined his head towards what Xander assumed was the back of the wreckage. 'So... Riddick was alive and if he needed to be chained relatively uninjured' Xander thought with relief before asking the others,

"So is it just us then? No other's survived?"

"Not quite. there's a pilot she survived, oh and four others, Arabs, I think. They went outside... something about praying to Mecca, in thanks' for our survival. But that's all." Shazza said softly, she looked torn between relief that they'd survived and regret that so many others hadn't. after a moment she gave herself a small shake before continuing "We're all heading out, we want to see about, maybe organising a search and rescue. You want to come see where we landed?"

"Nah, I'll sit this one out, I need to do something with my arm. It's broken I think. I heard it go, just before I was knocked out. Are there any medical supplies still with us?" Everyone shook their heads, "Never mind, I'll see what I can scavenge."


He watched the others leave and when he was certain they'd gone he shrugged his bag from his shoulder. He knew he was here because of a wish... He hadn't exactly had time to pack! His spidey-sense was telling him that it was there due to either Caliefnos or Frank. Xander sat down and began to rummage through the bag. The first thing he found was a picture frame, it was the one that sat on his bedside table, in it was a photo of the Scoobies in the library. Giles stood there in the background cleaning his glasses. Cordelia was to one side glaring at Angel, and Xander was dead centre, with one arm slung around a blushing Willow and the other around a grinning Buffy. Oz had taken the photo and he'd kept it because it reminded him of the good times they'd all had. That he hoped they'd have in the future, also. He put it back in the bag and fished out the next item. A letter, addressed to him. Now what? He opened it and started to read;


Hey kid,

Enjoy the bag it's a little perk. I thought I'd give you,
after all it was MY girl you saved. I left some stuff in
here I thought you'd like to have with you. Don't be fooled
by it's size it's a lot bigger than it looks. I put a few
changes of clothes in for you and your honey. And some stuff
that'll come in handy when the time right. If you loose it
don't worry it'll turn up, it's keyed to you and once you mate
him. Don't think it'll solve all your problems though. It won't.

I just wanted to mention a couple of things you may have
missed, or not quite picked up on as you were... distracted at
the time. The change is permanent. No going back, kid, you'll
be a furyan (sp?) 'til you die. Also I'd be somewhat cautious,
don't forget you're a bearer now. Just in case it still doesn't
click, you can carry children. You know... get pregnant! Oh, also
I know you're going to worry about your mother missing you. Don't.
Part of the spell of vengeance means that in your absence
only those it's aimed at will even know you're not there.
To everyone else, well they'll believe that they've just seen or
spoken to you. But it'll be a vague feeling, just enough to stop
you from coming up missing or believed dead. Handy little
spell isn't it? Best of luck kid... And don't forget about the
girl!
Yours,
Frank


Xander gulped as he finished reading the last of the letter, Pregnant!! How would that even work? After a while he calmed down, from what he knew of frank it was more than likely to be a wind up. He was glad that his mom wouldn't worry about him. Cordy should be fine too. He shoved the letter back in and he began to search for a spare t-shirt; something he could sacrifice to use to support his arm. Looking around he could already see several pieces of plastic he could adapt to make splints for it. He managed to pull one out, amazed that he managed without pulling everything else out with it. Eventually, after much struggling, he managed to rip the t-shirt and tie the splint in place, he used the last of the shirt to tie his arm up in a makeshift sling. When he'd finished and seeing as he was still alone, he decided it was time to seek out Riddick.


He made his way to where he could make out Riddick's scent, although it seemed fainter than he remembered it being. Instinctively, keeping in the shadows and as quietly as he could be, he approached him. He found him slumped against a post, arms bound behind him and feet bolted to the floor. He took the opportunity to study him, he found him as gorgeous as he'd first thought. Even semi-conscious he exuded a primal masculinity. One that, now, seemed to call to Xander at the most basic of levels. He slipped deeper into the darkness as he heard the approach of two people, Johns he recognised, but the woman he'd not seen. He guessed that she was the pilot Zeke had mentioned. He stood listening to their conversation about the necessity of keeping Riddick chained. He could feel Riddick's amusement when Johns described him as only being dangerous to humans. He watched as the two left, quickly turning back to see what Riddick would do. He found it irritating; that even though he hated the thought of Riddick being in chains, he couldn't seem to make himself go and release him. His new instincts seemed to be telling him to wait and watch, to see how Riddick coped. He wasn't disappointed. In less than two minutes, Riddick was free and gone. Xander knew he'd be back, though. Back for him.