A Wish Is A Dream The Heart Makes.

Chapter six: Struggling, But Alive.

Xander picked his way through the wreckage and out of the ship, he found himself staring at a vast dessert. Shazza waved at him calling him over to her.

"Hey kid, we've given up on the search and rescue, there wouldn't have been any survivors in all that." she inclined her head towards the path of destruction left in the ships wake. "We managed to open the closest storage pod, well the closest surviving one at any rate. Fry... the captain is in there now with Johns and Parris. They're looking for water. We won't survive here long without it." She finished with a snort, before turning away and going to join her husband.


Xander trailed after her, feeling the heat from the two suns, 'Two suns; that is so freakin' cool' he thought, his inner geek was jumping up and down and squealing in joy, he was standing on a genuine alien planet! He couldn't resist the small outward bounce of excitement he gave, before he realised; that was an alien planet he was now stranded on... with no water. Or worse, no twinkies! Sobered now, he made his way over to sit beside Shazza and wait to see what the others came back with. He hoped they found painkillers though, his arm hurt like hell.


Johns came swaggering towards them, followed by the others. They were each carrying bottles, they looked to him like wine bottles. As they came closer he could see that they were. Wine? Who lugged wine around? One look at Parris' face gave Xander an answer.


"We didn't find any water, or much of anything that can help us. We've several bottles of wine, that's it though." He moved closer to Xander, offering him one of the bottles he carried.

"Nope, no alchohol for the Xan-man! That leads only to badness... and crazed dancing!" Xander shook his head, before biterly muttering to himself, "Besides I think one drunk Harris' is more than enough."


After xander refused a bottle, Johns placed them down beside him before he continued on past him and went into the ship. He was obviously going to check on Riddick. Xander started to listen closely he was sure Johns' reaction to Riddick's escape would be... amusing. Yep, there it was! He turned to see him stomping out from the ship and staring into the dessert, looking for any traces of his passage. As if Riddick would be stupid enough to leave any. Xander couldn't say he knew Riddick well but he knew he wouldn't be found unless he wanted to be. Johns' actions had alerted the rest of the group to the fact that something was going on, they all gathered around him, asking him what was wrong.


"Riddick's gone." He ran an annoyed hand through his hair, "Everyone should stay together, I'll check around... make sure he's not lingering."


Xander couldn't resist the urge to comment, "Wait, Johns! But what about you? You'll be all on your own." He gave him his most innocent look, from beneath his lashes. To his surprise Johns appeared to be lapping his act up, he watched amused, as he puffed up his chest and gave him a look Xander classified as 'don't you worry little lady...er man'.

"Don't you folks worry about me, I'm trained in this. Riddick won't be able to hurt me. You all stay here." With that he turned and began to make circuits of the wreckage looking for any traces he could find. Xander almost snorted at the man he just knew Giles would call a 'pretentious arse' but at the last minute he managed to restrain himself. He found it strange how the more he was around Johns the more he was reminded of Deadboy... that was Angelus not Angel. Nope, he didn't think he was going to be friends with him, not at all. He watched as the others drew in closer to each other, chattering about what he might do to them all now he was free, while they waited for Johns to give them the all clear. Idiots! Xander thought about that, he knew the Sunnydale Xander of old; the White Knight as Angelus had termed him, would have been offering his help to catch the convicted murderer. Now though, he found he didn't much care that Riddick was an apparently cold blooded killer. He just found himself hoping he'd come back soon, the thought of him killing one of their fellow survivors was strangely untroubling, in fact the longer they stood speculating, the more he felt like maybe offering to help... Riddick. Their constant yapping was making his ears ring. Before he could give into his rising desire to go all Riddick on them, Johns returned with a grim look about him.


"I found traces of him, towards the setting suns, He's gone for now. But all of you stay alert and if possible armed."


"I have some weapons, well, antiques really but they may be some use to us." Parris answered looking nervously at the shadows inside of the wreck. Imam and the kid's including Jack all headed of with Parris to help him retrieve the weapons, Fry stood staring at the dessert around them in silence.


"We're gonna need to search for water, if we want to survive. I think if we salvage some stuff from the wreck me and Zeke could build some breathers for us, help us to move around at least" Shazza said into the silence, Fry nodded before moving to sit by the ship. Shazza pulled Zeke with her to start the search for things they could adapt. Johns watched them go and with a wink at Xander moved to retrieve his weapons case. He'd need more than a hand gun against Riddick. As he walked away Xander scrunched up his face and shuddered in disgust, nope he'd not just seen that, Johns was not flirting with him he'd just imagined it. The pain in his arm was causing him to imagine things. That's what it'd been, pain not flirting. Xander leaned back against the warm side of the ship and let his eyes drift closed. He was tired and his arm was a constant ache. Plus, while it'd been cool at first, his new senses were now becoming overwhelming; the sheer number of sights, scents and sounds were growing increasingly hard to control. He was struggling to cope with all the information he was getting constantly from his surroundings as he drifted asleep he wondered how Riddick coped with it all; he'd have to ask him.


He woke up when Jack started to whine, loudly, about being left behind, it seemed he wanted to go with the others to search for water not stay behind. Shazza whispered something to him and he shut up with a girlish giggle, something that made Xander shoot 'him' a questioning glance. Frank had said he had to look out for a girl and make sure she survived. Jack was the only one of the survivors that could be a girl. The others were either fully grown, like Fry, or with a group like the Arab boy's. He gave her a discreet sniff as she passed him, yep 'he' sure smelled like a girl, to Xander. Parris was sat up on the top of the wreck under an umbrella, acting as a lookout...or relaxing. Shazza had followed Jack into the ship when the search party had started to leave. Xander watched as Johns turned and walked up to Zeke,


"Zeke," he said and handed him a gun, "The clip's fully loaded. The safety's on one shot if you see him."


"What if he sees us first?" Paris called out, nervously.


"Then... there'll be no shots." Johns said before walking off after Fry, smiling at the fear he'd caused.


When the search party had faded from sight, going towards a third BLUE sun, to Xander's amazement. Zeke turned back to his task of gathering the dead on a makeshift sled, in this heat it was better to bury them quickly, Xander stood and helped him as much as he could one handed, scooping up the breather from the work surface as he passed it, as it had obviously been left there for him. He listened as Zeke told Parris to stay alert for Riddick and smiled. He'd not trust Parris on lookout, he said as much to Zeke who grunted at him.


"Hey, if you want I'll come and keep watch, I'd offer to dig but..." Xander said indicating his injured arm, "I don't think I'd be able to. But the eyes are working fine."

Zeke looked at him before nodding and starting off towards some spires a short distance from the crash site, pulling the sled behind him. Xander felt kind of bad that he couldn't help, so remained silent, just following behind him. When they reached the spires Zeke stopped and picked up some poles and a strip of canvas, with a little help from Xander he soon had it rigged over where he was going to work. Hopefully it would provide some cover from the sun's heat while he worked. After a quick glance around them Zeke grabbed up a pick from the sled and began to dig. Xander quickly backed off to avoid the flying rock. He made his way towards the closest spire to stand in its shadow. He was getting uncomfortable, he didn't know why but something nearby was setting off his Hellmouth wierd'o'metre. It didn't help that even over the sounds Zeke was making he could hear something, lots of something's, clicking. He was put in mind of the giant preying mantis clicking her claw thingy's at him. Wanting to eat him.


He shifted uneasy, when suddenly a large arm came around him from behind pulling him back against a massive rock hard body, "Riddick." he whispered settling back further, calmed by his presence and aroused by his nearness. The arm tightened pulling him closer, he could feel his breath on his ear making Xander shudder with desire, as Riddick spoke in a low, husky voice, "Mine? Are you with me, Xan?" Was all he said before he licked up Xander's neck making him moan quietly and press back against the growing hardness he could feel, as it nestled against his butt. He shivered at the feeling of deja vu as he remembered his dream. Barely able to concentrate to answer, stifling another lust-filled moan, he answered; "Yours, Riddick. Always." He was about to say more when he heard Zeke shout out from the pit,


"Did you hear that Xander, I think I heard something."


Xander froze in fear and he felt Riddick go still behind him. They were so screwed.


A.N: I hope you like the chapter. I'm dedicating this one to Gravy Baby; Thank you for each of the reviews you have given my story. I hope the story continues to please you, as your reviews have been greatly enjoyed.
Sajahi