Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters. Points finger at Joss Whedon.

Chapter 2: Jayne

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Run away, Jayne. Run away and never look back.

Those words echoed in his mind as he ran to the cargo bay, leaping over the fallen bodies of the crew. The dead bodies, he realized while shuddering. He had no idea who attacked them all. All he heard was the screams and the loud bangs which woke him from his deep slumber. Jayne reached out for his guns, but they were all gone. Every last one of them including Vera.

Not knowing what else to do, he quietly crept out of his bunk. He saw Mal on the bridge, lying on the ground bleeding and gasping for breath. Mal looked straight at Jayne and told him to run. And then the gorram person shot Mal, ending his life. It was all he needed to get the hell outta there.

Only problem was, they were in the black.

A bullet whizzed past Jayne's ear and a not at all manly squeak emitted from his lips. He jumped over the side of the gangway in the cargo bay and landed with a thunk on the ground. Frantically, he looked around for a weapon, anything. But there was nothing, not even a scrap of metal lying around.

Clunk, clunk.

Jayne knew that sound, it was the sound of boots. Commando boots.

"River?" he whispered as he looked up to where he stood moments earlier.

"Jayne is a girl's name," she said pointing a gun at his chest.

Pointing Vera at his chest.

His Vera, his beloved gun.

I knew we should have gotten rid of that gorram crazy girl from the beginning, he thought.

He looked into her eyes but all he could see was black, dark and cold as night. River pulled the trigger and with a loud bang the night within her eyes took away his life.

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Jayne quickly sat up in the dark room of his bunk. He put a hand to his chest but didn't feel any bullet holes or wounds. It was just a gorram nightmare, he thought as his tense body slowly relaxed.

A sudden thought flashed through his mind. Jayne pulled back the blanket that hid his guns and sighed with relief. They were all there, including his precious Vera. He took her off the wall and held her close. "I won't ever let anyone take you away," he whispered to Vera, his voice filled with love. Jayne laid back down on his bed, snuggling Vera close to his body.

Never again will I eat Simon's cooking before going to bed, he promised himself before falling back into a deep sleep, his snores echoing throughout the ship.