Caged Birds

Another work in progress, Firefly and Serenity characters are not mine, they belong to Joss Whedon and all affiliated to Whedon

She felt restless, panicky, trapped in a place that was cold and without remorse and no matter which way she turned, it all lead back to the heart of it: A gilded cage that had lost it's luster, a mirror that no longer shown with beauty, only reflected the hazed fog image of her entrapment… And a nest that had once been so warm, inviting and comforting, now only felt empty and isolated. The echo of pretty words and promises made now only faintly weaved in and out of the rusted bars, their charm lost and hallow as they pasted through her cage.

River Tam whimpered softly as she tossed in her sleep, shaking her head and murmuring words only she alone understood. The past three days she'd been having the same dream, seeing the same face, one she always thought to be a reflection in a dirty mirror, until she drew closer, realized it was someone watching her and no matter how she tried, River could never reach past the glass, hear what the woman was saying, only felt the same emotions that were so thick and heavy, they made her body tired, her mind panicky. Always the same…

"River, River, come on mei mei, wake up…" Simon frowned as he gently shook his sister's shoulder, ready to jump back incase she was disturbed and scared. Ever since Miranda, River had been having fits of nightmares and waking up swinging, once she even lashed out with a scalpel she had somehow gotten a hold of. Simon was worried, she had been getting so much better, and her violently awakening episodes had only lasted about a week, and had grown tamer, the farther away from the Rim they had gotten. But for the last several days, the dreams had started again, whether or not they were the same as the Miranda ones, Simon didn't know, but she always woke up crying, rambling about being alone, caged inside a promise she no longer believed in…

"Noo… don't want to be…. Illusions kill… They…." River frowned, tossing more in her sleep, trying to shake the person off of her, her head turning from side to side before she suddenly sat up wide eyed with a trembling lip. For a full minute she just stared, appearing to look right through Simon before she suddenly bolted from her room, almost knocking her brother over in the process.

"River! What, it's alright! Mei Mei, come back, where are you going? What's wrong?" Simon stumbled backwards, hitting the wall with a blink, his mouth open as he stared after his little sister and tried to understand what it was she was talking about, but he shook his head and took off after her, hearing the sound of the hatch being opened that lead up to the main part of the ship.

"What the hell is that little moon brain doin' now?" Jayne Cobb's gruff voice barked out from the hallway, his head poking up from his own hatch as he watched one Tam go running by, then the other. He knew how hard a time River had been having after her Reaver massacre, personally he couldn't understand it, what was so bad 'bout killin' two dozen Reavers and living to tell about it… Though he supposed that entire experience had been disturbin', they had after all, all thought they were going to die, hell two of the crew had…

"River's been having bad dreams again…" Kaylee shook her head as she came walking from the opposite direction, a frown on her face and a cup in her hands. She had gotten up when Simon had woken, saying he had heard River crying in her sleep again and he was going to check on her. Kaylee had gone to the mess to make the young girl a cup of warm milk with some honey in it, hoping it would help make her feel better after Simon had woken her up, "Looks like this one was chasin' her…"

Both Jayne and Kaylee had moved up further into the hallway, watching with tipped head and frowns as Simon went running by, calling out to River, it was only after a moment of staring that they both realized where it was River was running to: The cockpit.

"Morpheus spins pretty lies that trap… can't let them…" River murmured the same line of thought over and over as she made her way to the cockpit, her eyes wide and slightly unfocused as the images of the dream kept playing in her mind. She wasn't completely certain of what it was she was seeing, but she knew the emotions, and they scared her, someone had to help.

Simon frowned more as he came skidding to a stop just outside the cockpit, barely able to dodge inside before River was in the pilot seat, hurriedly punching in buttons, her small hands flying over the console as she spoke to herself. Mal wasn't going to pleased

"River, what are you doing? We can't change course, we're due in Thermopylae in less then a day, and we have to pick up Zoë…" As gently as he could, Simon reached out to restrain his sister, moving directly behind her, trying to pull her away from the console, while at the same time trying to discern where it was she was trying to lay in a course for. It just didn't make sense, things were going so well.

"Think we should get the Captain?" Jayne leaned down towards Kaylee as they both walked towards the cockpit, a frown on his brow and his head turned mostly towards the Tams and just outside the door he stopped, crossing his massive arms as he leaned on one side of the doorframe, content to let Simon deal with his little sister until it looked like he might need help. No matter what he said, or how he acted, the mercenary cared about River. Especially after Miranda and ever since Simon had confronted him about Ariel, he even begrudgingly held a handful of respect for the Doctor because of it.

"Let's just wait a spell…" Kaylee murmured back softly, slowly walking into the cockpit and came up on the brother and sister's left, carefully leaning over to see what it was River had been doing. Somehow Simon had been able to spin the chair around and get River to clasp her hands in her lap as he knelt down in front her, trying to get it out of her what was wrong, where she was trying to get to, but the only words that came from River were the same.