AN: Hello all! This is my first Firefly fic, but not my first fic. I recently came across this series and began having dreams about it… yes, I'm weird like that… and one I had recently made me want to get back to writing. (which I haven't done in about a year) So, you lucky Firefly flans get to see the fruits of my subconscious brain. While I totally believe that Mal and Inara belong together, my sleeping brain thinks I should be with Mal… so, I changed up a few details of my dream to make it jive with the series and take the me out of it. Unfortunately, this would not work as a Mal/Inara story, so let's hope for next time.
About this story: I have no idea where it's going. I'm open to ideas as long as you give them to me.
I also don't have a title for this (as you may have noticed) and would GREATLY appreciate anyone with any ideas.
Somehow Captain Malcolm Reynolds' heists never seemed to go off without a hitch. Something always caused him to deviate. On more than a few occasions, the cause was Reavers having the same target in mind that he had. Such was the case at this moment.
Mal had snuck upstairs in the palacial estate of Sir Walt Havers when he heard Jayne's desperate shout. Havers was a tyrannical despot who governed over this small moon in an uncaring manner. Mal never much cared for those who walked over the less fortunate, but that wasn't the reason Mal and his crew had targeted Havers.
Havers was rudding rich.
"MAALLLL!!! REAVERS!!!!"
As soon as the shout reached Mal's ears, another more feminine scream came from the room next to his.
Karáh Valieri was startled by an unknown voice warning of Reavers and let out a frightened scream. This was not the first time she had come in contact with the abominations, and if they were going to find her, she was not going to be aware of it.
She scrambled to search for the vial of Peristaproline she had hidden in every room she frequented. As her hands closed around the vial's reassuring coolness, a loud bang shook her locked door causing her to let out another frightened scream.
With shaking hands, she stuck the syringe into the vial and extracted the distinctive teal liquid.
Just then, the door burst open and Karáh squeezed her eyes shut and jabbed the need into her arm.
She pushed the plunger down slowly as she left her consciousness behind her.
"Jayne! Get your gorram ass up here!" Mal shouted as he effortlessly snatched the syringe away from the strange girl's limp hand.
"Mal! Reavers! Let's MOVE!" came Jayne's frightened reply.
"JAYNE! NOW!" Mal bent to lift the girl's nearly limp body. "Hang on, don't go dying on me," he told her, not knowing if she heard him or not.
"No…. not Reavers… I won't…" With that groggy broken declaration, the small body in Mal's arms went completely limp.
"Jayne! Get the loot and let's get the hell off this moon!" he yelled running down the stairs with the girl in his arms. "Wash, Reavers are here. I'm thinking a quick getaway would not be a bad idea," he said into his talkie.
"Reavers?! Ta shi suo you di yu de diao zi de ma !" came his pilot's response.
"Tell the doc to get ready, too. I'm going to need him in the medical bay."
Carrying a limp form high against his chest was not a smart thing when he knew there was going to be some fighting going on, so he shifted her in his grasp and lifted her over one shoulder. With his free hand, he grabbed onto his gun and pulled it out of its holster.
As he was running out the back door behind Jayne, the front door burst open and Reavers flooded into the house.
"Jayne!" Mal yelled.
Understanding his meaning, Jayne doubled back and threw an activated grenade into the house and slammed the door. The two of them took off running to avoid the blast and the Reavers.
They reached Serenity and ran onto the ship just as Kaylee shut the door.
"Wash, we're in. Let's hit the sky."
"So, uh… why'dya bring a girl with you?" Jayne asked finally noticing what Mal had brought on the ship.
"She ain't dead… Reavers wouldda got her…"
"That stopped you before?"
Mal gave his gunman a look that said to leave well enough alone. "Store the loot." With that, he liften the unconscious girl high on his chest, no longer fearing Reavers attacking his person and headed towards the medical bay with Kaylee hot on his heel.
"Who is she, Cap'n?"
"How the hell would I know?" he replied, trying not to jostle his burden as he maneuvered through Serenity's awkward steel doors.
"Doc! I got a patient here for you," Mal said as he gently placed the girl on the table in the middle of the room.
"Who is she?" Simon Tam asked, not recognizing her.
"Why is everybody asking as if I know?" Mal replied.
"Uh, Mal… I hate to tell you this, but uh… she's dead."
"No she ain't." Mal rifled through his pockets to produce the syringe he had taken from her. "She injected herself with this go se… is it lethal?"
Simon looked at the liquid. "That appears to be Peristaproline. It slows the heart and breathing."
"She wanted to look dead to the Reavers so they wouldn't touch her," Mal said in realization.
"Yes, that is what I believe as well. If this was her first syringe, however, I think she'll be fine. I'll give her a shot of adrenaline to get her heart pumping, but she'll need to be watched throughout the night. Also, if she's not awake within six hours, I will have to put her under some water to shock her senses into responding. How long has it been since she did this to herself?"
"Not more'n ten minutes, I'd say," Mal replied.
"Yes, I do believe she'll be fine."
Simon let out a large yawn. He hadn't slept in the past 4 days and was now looking forward to watching an unconscious stranger for another night.
"Doc, go to bed, I'll watch the little bit. Make sure she wakes up and whatnot," Mal offered. "If I need help, I'll just ask that genius-brained sister of yours."
Simon nodded tiredly and gave the not-quite-dead-yet girl a shot of adrenaline before trotting off to his bunk.
Now that he had the place to himself, Mal allowed himself to finally take a decent look at his new ward. She was pretty enough, long tresses of black satin fell against the medical table, a stark contrast to her milky white skin. She was short and thin. Unfortunately, he noticed that she was thin due to malnutrition instead of a strong physique. Mal's gaze drifted from her face down to her slender neck until he noticed something that made his blood boil.
Just at the base of her neck, nearly covered by the collar of her shirt, was a noticeable discoloration that marred her perfectly unblemished skin. "Son of a whore!" he exclaimed.
At the sound of his voice, his guest shifted and made a sniffling murmur, but did not wake up.
This was going to be a long night Mal thought as he settled in for his vigil.
Karáh was drowning in warmth. I must be dead… this is what death feels like… death feels a lot like rain…
She shifted and opened her eyes only to snap them shut again as blinding white light and streams of water from a shower head got into them. "Ho- shit!"
"Nice to see you're awake, small one," came an unfamiliar voice.
She jumped and nearly slipped, but two very strong hands shot out and saved her from seriously injuring herself at the last minute.
"Who the hell are you?"
"Ya know, I been wonderin the same thing about you ever since I brought you on my sorry boat." She looked into the strikingly deep blue eyes of the man that held her up, ignoring the increasing wetness of his clothes. "I'm Captain Malcolm Reynolds and this here's Serenity," he said patting the walls lovingly. "And you are?"
Startled by the impropriety of the situation and having a past that taught her not to trust men, Karáh hesitated.
"Come now, I ain't gonna hurt ya, hell I saved ya from the Reavers."
At the mention of Reavers, she tensed and pulled away from Captain Malcolm Reynolds' grasp.
"There ain't nothing to be scared of, lil bit, we got away clean. Now why don't you tell me your name?" Mal asked with a kind smile.
"K-K-Karáh Valieri. M-my name is Karáh Valieri."
"Ah! She speaks! That's shiny. Well, Karáh Valieri, it is sure a mighty fine pleasure to see that you're awake and talking. We were scared we lost you for a moment there, but lucky for me, I got a genius on board and we got ya fixed right back up."
His new shipmate just look at him with her big piercing emerald eyes, her fear and confusion apparent.
"Right. Let's get you out of this shower and those wet clothes and then you can have some grub and meet the rest of my crew, that sound good?"
She only shivered and nodded.
Right… this is going to be interesting.
AN: So there is the beginning of my story, I hope you all enjoyed it so far. I really have no idea where to go with it, so please comment and give me ideas! I promise shoutouts and cookies for those who do! :D
Chinese:
ta shi suo you di yu de diao zi de ma – whores in hell
(I think that's all I used…)