A/N: Inspired by a line of dialogue from 'Safe'
Disclaimer: They ain't mine.
"Stars, hide your fires; Let not light see my black and deep desires." – MacBeth
Simon stands at the top of the ramp, staring out at the driving rain. It thunders against Serenity's hull and the sound rumbles around the cavernous cargo hold. The resonance has an empty, yet strangely soothing quality.
He hugs himself against the cold, damp air, but doesn't leave. Cosy melancholy arrived with the rain and he welcomes her like an old friend. She nestles in his chest, pushing the aching blackness aside and replacing it with blurry grey.
"Mei mei, everything I have is right here," he'd said, stroking her hair and caressing her silken cheek.
He hadn't realised how wholly true those words were until he spoke them aloud.
Everything.
Childhood recollections, memories of a better time. The only family left to him.
His success, his loss of faith, his fall from grace. His daring and his fear.
His weariness of running, his reason for pressing on. His hopes. His deepest regrets – not that he gave it all up for her, only that he didn't do it sooner.
His purest joy. His greatest sorrow. His lone companion in the black, the only one who understands. His sole comfort in the night; the moonlight that illuminates his darkest hours. The source of his tears and his smiles, and his swollen heart.
All of it, tied up in a precious package of milky skin and sable locks, luminous eyes and cherry lips.
All his love. His longing. His desire. His need. His guilt. His self-loathing.
Melancholy takes her leave, and the blackness consumes him once more.