Los Angeles, CA 2008
Molly Carpenter woke up with a fierce headache; she had a shift at Carlos' restaurant in-crap, in 3 hours?-and needed to be somewhat there.
She'd been living at Carlos' folks' place for about 3 months now, and had gotten a job waiting tables at the restaurant his family ran. Every few weeks, she would awaken with a fierce headache after experiencing a lucid and realistic dream about Dresden. He'd been missing for 4 months now, and whispers were echoing throughout the supernatural world that he was dead.
Her dreams said otherwise, however. The first time, she'd dreamed of Dresden facing off against a group of men with automatic weapons, shielding the mortals he was with and catching the other group of mortals up with a gust of wind.
The second dream she'd had showed Dresden throwing a bolt of fire right through a man, a man wearing blue gloves. He'd broken the First Law!
The last vision she had experienced was of Dresden facing down a man with glowing red eyes on the metal ramp of some kind of aircraft; a Denarian, flanked by two of the men with Blue Hands she'd seen in the other vision. Suddenly, she saw the glow of Fidelacchius and heard the slashing thumps of the men being beheaded by a tiny brunette girl with big eyes.
She began to See again...
Dresden and the little brunette are bound and unconscious on litters, being carried by two of the others she'd seen before, their eyes dull and glazed, and two men she'd never seen before...The tall mortal she had seen working with Dresden before was in the lead, but she could see the glint of silver in his hand and the sigil of the Denarian on his forehead, glowing red eyes looking forward.
Nicodemus stood before them a distance away, flanked by two more Denarians; the old bastard smiled evilly...
Molly came to, shuddering violently. She didn't realize she had been screaming until she felt Carlos wrap his arms around her protectively.
Present day...
Serenity set down on Persephone, feather smooth (River was at the controls.)
I walked down the ramp a ways. River had experienced a strong feeling that they'd need to go to Persephone, just as we were beginning our planning to take down Nicodemus.
I'd seen Knights have these feelings before, and knew we would be fools to ignore them.
Mal and Zoe hadn't come down yet, and Kaylee had opened the bottom ramp. There weren't any soldiers down here, as Mal had feared. I had decided to walk down and see if I could sense anything.
I was so focused on what I was doing that I missed the man speaking to me.
"This ship taking on passengers, friend?" A friendly brown-haired man strode up; his hair was about shoulder length, pulled back into a tight tail; he was dressed in simple civilian clothing, all in a Western style, although the jacket looked to be a Chinese/Western fusion design.
"Huh?"
"Hi, name is Reggie Aberwald. I'm lookin' for passage." I wasn't good with accents, but the man had what I would guess was a Boros accent. He had a single, well-sized bag over one shoulder, with a long tube wrapped in the straps over it.
"Oh, sure. You'll have to speak to the Captain, I'm just a hand."
"Sure. Can I find him inside?"
"Should be down soon. Go ahead up the ramp, ask for Captain Reynolds.
Something about the man's presence had startled me. I've been told I'm not the most observant person, and I'd proven it time and time again...but if I didn't know better, I'd say he was a Knight of the Cross.
I heard Mal address the man as he walked up the ramp, and Listened.
"Howdy, fella. Where are ya plannin' on headin'?"
"Wherever the journey takes me, is my usual response. I'm eventually wanting to get back to Boros, as it's been a while since I've been home, but I'm not worried about the speed of the trip, or the stops in between."
I looked back into the cargo bay, and saw River looking down at the man. She looked confused and charmed, an unusual combination on her face.
"Hello."
I turned suddenly, and saw a tall black man approaching me. He was tall, and had curly black hair that it appeared he'd been growing out; he had pulled it back into cornrows. He wore simple clothes, and had a white collar around the neck of his shirt that looked very familiar.
"You're a preacher?"
"I'm a Shepherd, out of Bathgate Abbey. Looking to walk the world, for a spell." He had a single bag, too, and a long, slender package wrapped in brown paper.
"Can you pay for passage?"
"Of course." he said, with a slight smile. "And there'll be no harping on you about your sins, I've had enough of that for a lifetime."
"Alright, go an ahead." Mal had vanished with the other passenger, showing him a room. Kaylee looked up from the maintenance she was doing, and her eyes got curious.
"Hi there. I'm Kaylee."
"Very nice to meet you, Miss."
"You're a Shepherd? That's shiny! We ain't had a Shepherd on board for more'n a year!"
I had turned my attention to the outside again, watching for something, when I heard a shout in Chinese. I won't even bother translating, my host. You know what he's saying well enough, I'd imagine.
Yea, I'd guess.
I turned and walked back up the ramp, and saw another strange tableau. These were becoming less strange and more common. Mal was standing on the cargo bay floor, gun in hand and up, facing the strange Shepherd; Zoe was up on the catwalk, Mare's Leg in hand, and Jayne was on the other side, Vera in his.
"What the hell are you doin' on my boat?" was the yell. I quickly hit the button to close the ramp, just in case there was an exchange of gunfire, as I didn't want to have to explain to the Persephone authorities why we were shooting passengers.
"I am looking for passage." came the quiet response. The other passenger had appeared at the entrance to the passenger dorms, and looked about to go to the man's aid, but I saw River glare at him, and he stopped.
River slipped over the rail, and landed like a cat, before striding over to Mal. She put her hand out, and pushed the weapon down; Mal looked at her bewildered.
"He's not the man he was. He's seeking redemption."
"Gorramit, Tross, now ain't the time to be testin' me!" Mal yelled, but I saw Jayne put Vera down; she had him well-trained already.
Zoe looked to me, uncertainly. "I'd trust her, she usually knows what she's talking about." I said. Mal gave me a glare, but holstered his weapon.
"Alright. Speak your piece, afore I pitch ya off the boat."
I focused, and brought up the Sight; it was hard to do with so many people in the room, as their competing auras were almost blinding, but I wanted to See.
When I opened my eyes again, I Saw. Serenity flowed with energy, along every fiber of her being; the ship registered like a living creature on my senses, champing at the bit like an impatient horse. I could see the wounds and the healing scars still; she had been torn up plenty, but she'd fly true. I could feel the presences of Wash and of Shepherd Book, the ones I had sensed earlier.
Mal was dressed differently, still wearing the brown duster, but wearing a semi-military uniform that was stained with mud; an automatic rifle was slung over his shoulder, and he was bloodied and limping. He'd never left Serenity Valley. I could see the tiniest of bites out of his spiritual being, like those of an insect, although they were fading and regenerating quickly; the work, I guessed, of Inara.
Zoe appeared as I had seen her in our 'Gaze, all patchwork hurts and sorrows forged into armor around her soul; I could see the battle of Serenity Valley flash around her, but she appeared to be walking out of it, into a green new land to match the growing seed in her heart.
The stranger near the passenger dorms, Aberwald, was blindingly bright; he appeared like an avenging angel, in unstained white robes, glowing silver sabre in one hand, and shield in the other.
The other stranger was a curious mix; dressed in the same white robes of Aberwald, he too had a sword in hand. One wing was a tattered bat's wing, nearly falling off; one angelic wing was pure and white, grown anew from the remains of the other bat wing. An empty sheath hung at his waist, for a different kind of sword than the cruciform one in his hands, a narrow, thin blade. His hands were dripping in blood, but the pure light of the sword was washing away the blood and the grime from his face slowly.
I Saw River then; she, too, was freshly dressed in white robes. Blood dripped from her hands as well, but much of it was her own. Fidelacchius was in one hand, and a phantom blade rested in the other, jagged and cruel. Her eyes burned with fire, and she was a patchwork of scars herself, scars not of the body but of the psyche. Her aura glowed in a rainbow of colors, although they were fading into a single white light.
I tore down the Sight, now; I was getting overloaded, and found that I had dropped to one knee. The other Knight had come over to help me, and pulled me to my feet.
"You alright, friend? You look like you've seen a ghost." I saw the others looking at me, and gave a wan smile.
"I'll be fine. Thanks. Go ahead with your story."
"Very well. After our...last encounter, Captain, I drifted. One day, a few weeks after you departed, I found myself on the steps of Bathgate Abbey. The brethren took me in, fed me, and healed my own hurts. I resolved to become one of them, to seek my redemption in that way.
"The day I took my orders, Mr. Aberwald appeared at the Abbey. He took one look at me and pulled the monsignor aside. I was called into the abbot's office and offered a quest. I took it."
He pulled out the long cruciform broadsword from its package, handing it hilt first to Mal. Mal studied it, seeing the craftsmanship and also the old iron nail incorporated into the hilt.
"What's this one called?"
"Amoracchius. Love." River answered, smiling now.
Aberwald pulled his own sword out of the tube in his bag; the long saber was all too familiar to me. "Esperacchius. Hope."
Mal just put a hand to his head, drawing a laugh from the other three, who put away their blades.
Mal was bewildered. How in the hell had he gone from heading to a meet on Whitefall, only months ago, to standing on his ship with a wizard, three Knights of a holy order, the woman he'd been working on a relationship with being a vampire, and a cursed coin sitting on the dashboard?
Dresden came over, looking a little better after he'd gone pale a few minutes ago. The three Knights were talking; it looked as if Aberwald was instructing River and...the other one. Priam, he'd called himself.
"I had the feeling they'd show up. The Knights always do, when they're needed."
"And you think they're needed now?"
"You're never going to get peace until you take care of Nicodemus. Somebody obviously is trying to help you do that." Dresden said, pointing at the three Knights.
"You're sure about that?"
"It's my experience that if the Knights get involved, something bad is happening. And if all three are in the same place at the same time...we're gonna need 'em, and then some. Without my usual allies in something like this, we're gonna have to improvise."
"Ain't somethin' we ain't done before."