Title: hear the sorrow of Daedalus
Disclaimer: not my characters
Warnings: post-film
Pairings: none
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 165
Point of view: third
Prompt: Firefly, author's choice, "Pity not Icarus, for he touched the sky."
They told her, with their cold hands and sharp instruments, with their biting words and their scalding lies, they told her and told her and told her again, you're special and great and we have to break you, must break you, not meant for us, become what we want, break break break
They burned her wings, shattered her mind, left her tattered and torn and wrong, and her brother, though he tries, can never mend her. She's broken.
But she still flies, her and Serenity, they still soar through the black, far from any fences or locks, away from those who would ground her forever, who would bloody her wings, who would cage her.
Her brother asks her what she's thinking about, curled up in Wash's chair. His ghost stands next to her, whispering the ship's secrets, and she's almost sure Simon doesn't want to know that.
So she says, "Icarus touched the sky," and her brother gives her a sad smile, pressing a kiss to her forehead.