Author Note: Originally written for the prompt The Independents won the Battle of Serenity on comment_fic at livejournal.
The More Things Change
Mal takes to the stars, because they may have won but there's still no home left for him to go back to. He's sown the field of battle with the bodies and blood of his men and he hasn't the heart to sow things worth growing.
Zoe follows after, because she was never one to be tied to dirt anyhow. People, though, she's tied herself to them without ever meaning to and most are dead and gone, but not Malcolm Reynolds and she'd like to see it stay that way.
Kaylee's a girl who gets an opportunity. Doesn't matter what happened when she was too young to know about it, far away and distant, winners or losers there's an opportunity that comes her way and she's good with taking those.
Wash finally gets released from a prisoner of war camp run by the Alliance, but there's some confusion over whose side he was really on, because the paper trail says that he was in an Independent's POW camp before that, and flying medical supplies to the Alliance before thatand no one has the time or inclination to sort it out. Wars are messy and they leave mess behind them, but Wash just wants to fly, plain and simple; it's just a matter of who'll take him.
Jayne's not the type to follow rules, whoever's making them. An Independent society means he's got the chance to go his own way, but for all he hates the rules life's easier when you've got someone to follow, someone who'll do the planning, and Mal's good with that, so good he helped to win a war.
Inara wonders if there will be a place for Companions in this new 'verse, but she doesn't wait to find out. They say that now people can be as they are, so as long as she says that she's a Companion then she will be, however separate from a Guild that may disband, owner of herself, until she can figure out what comes next.
Book believes that now is as good a time as any to see the worlds. It's a matter of time: the Abbott says that he's ready and who is he to disagree?
Serenityis where they all end up, because that's where they were headed. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Simon saves lives. He reattaches a girl's leg and she names her hamster after him.
River dances. There is time and space yet for her to grow into whoever she will be.