Sora POV
Taking in my new surroundings I slowly sink onto the bed, its got all I could need, toilet, sink and some storage for what I might need for my things, I look to my bag beside me, containing the very few possessions I have, it's lighter than it used to be, no thanks to them, but at least I got the most important things.
I finally look down at myself, seeing what Mal must also have seen and what I have been avoiding for a few days, but then again after what I had to go through to get here my looks haven't exactly been my top priority. But now that I'm with my brother and his crew – maybe even his friends, I need to try and make myself look more presentable and less covered in dried blood and dirt, the blood not all being exactly mine.
I stand up, shrugging off my coat before putting it on a chair and go over to the sink, taking some water in both hands and start to scrub my face thoroughly, damn I did not know that I had this much dirt on me, the dirt in the sink is disgusting and it came from me! The feel of clean water on my skin both stings but it's also refreshing.
A knock sounds from my door, jarring me out of my actions and I look up from the sink though my reflection in the mirror in front of me makes me pause, there's a reason why I avoided mirrors until now…I knew about the cuts but I didn't know they were that visible,
"Come in" I say, my eyes still on the mirror, though I see in the reflection that woman who was with Mal when he came to get me, Zoey I think is her name, is stood outside the room holding some folded clothing.
"Captain said you might need some clothes, I had these spare, not sure if they will fit but.." she says, I turn around seeing her looking a little uncomfortable, I smile lightly at her for this,
"Thanks, I really appreciate it" I say, she nods and hands me the clothes after I step towards her, though I quickly put them on the bed so I don't dirty them, I don't miss the quick look she had of my face, but I try to keep my expression even, not wanting to seem too bothered by them.
I'll get used to them being more noticeable now, they're my war scars and I'll wear them proudly, it may take me a while to get used to them but I'll get there.
"We'll see you in the mess hall" she says, I nod in acceptance, hearing her shut the door behind her, I make sure that its locked before taking the rest of my clothes off to get the rest of me more cleaned up. The hair is most tricky but I manage to get the tangles and rubbish out, however there was a point where it was impossible so I needed to get a knife to it, it needed it anyway. So now it's a lot less dirty and it's just between my elbow and shoulders in length, tying it into a pony tail to keep out of the way.
I also manage to get the dirt off from my coat, this I'm happy about since it was my momas. The clothes that Zoey brought weren't too big on me, they're really comfortable, black leggings, a green short sleeved shirt and with some extra bits of clothes that I'll save for another day.
I pull on my bullet proof leather cream vest over my shirt, never having it too tight for manoeuvrability.
I'll leave my jacket here so it can dry off better, then after pulling on some clean socks I pull on my black boots, slipping my knives in their hidden slots at the sides.
Finally I look back at the mirror, seeing a vast improvement, I don't remember what I looked like before, but the woman I am now, she has definitely seen her fair share of war – maybe not alliance and independence war, but a war to stay alive. I look a little like I'm going to war with old earth war markings across my cheeks, but these aren't mud or paint, these are my scars.
After hiding my bag in one of the storage compartments, I make my way out of the room, I don't know where this mess hall is but I know where it won't be which is where I came from, so I can only presume that its further along this corridor, the opposite direction Mal brought me from.
I let my eyes take in everything around me, since I'll be staying here a while I need to know the ins and outs of this place,
"Well look who decided to grace us with her presence"
I look up from his voice and smile lightly at my brother, seeing him sat down at a large wooden table in what I believe to be the mess hall,
"Found the dining room easy enough then, then again you were always good at finding things" he says, drinking from his cup, I make my way over to him, slowly to make sure its ok, I sit on the chair beside him, seeing no outburst or protest from him I settle down in it, really able to take him in better now, he's definitely gotten older, his hair style is still the same, his eyes look haunted but also have that love of life still there too.
I look at the coat he is wearing, recognising it from others that I have seen,
"You were in the war" I say, looking up at him, he looks to me in response,
"What just because I'm wearing a brown coat means that I went to war? But yeah, I did, didn't fancy getting tied down by the independence, not that that helped much" he says, I narrow my eyes at him for that, I know I haven't seen him in many years but that doesn't mean I don't recognise the signs of self-guilt.
"Serenity Valley was fought for valiantly Mal, everyone knows that, but I can say that you should have won if it weren't for those hútú dàn" I say, he smirks at that which makes me smile, happy that I can get a good reaction from him.
"Where's you get those beauties?" he asks, looking at my cheeks in particular, I look down a little from that, damn I have got to get used to this!
"Hey, so we're in cruise control now, so we can finally meet our new guest" says a man coming from overhead, blond hair with a friendly face, Zoey coming in behind him, thank goodness for that! I wasn't sure how to even begin with Mal and my scars,
"Kaylee will be on her way, and I imagine Jayne will be up when he feels like it" Zoey says sitting down beside the man, both on opposite sides of Mal and me.
"So, if I may I will start introductions, my name is Hoban Washburne, but I hate that name so I have everyone call me Wash. And you will have already met my wife Zoey" he says, I raise my eyebrows slightly for a second at first, surprised that he was married to Zoey, she doesn't seem like someone who would marry but I'm not one to judge,
"And you'll know that my name is Sora, Mal's little sister" I say, he grins at this, having I'm guessing already been made aware of me being Mal's sister and my name, and I'm fairly certain that he will have been whom I spoke to when I first contacted the ship.
"Well if you're not then we picked up the wrong hot headed woman in a bar" comes a new voice, I look to where it came from, same place where Zoey and Wash came from too, must be some sleeping quarters back there.
This guy however just looks like someone I beat up in that bar earlier, big, clueless and looking for a fight,
"I can imagine that that has happened to you a lot" I say, smiling slyly, he pauses where he's stood looking at me, I raise an eyebrow daring him to tell me otherwise,
"Nope, your definitely his sister" he says, sitting himself down at the table opposite me, I look to Mal who also looks to me and we share a smirk, must have liked my comment and thought it funny too, and from the looks on Wash and Zoey they thought so too.
"Hey" I look over to see a young girl coming from the other side of the room, she seems sweet, young and innocent too, she sits on my other side though I can see the shyness in her eyes,
"So, I'm Kaylee, I hear that you're the captains sister, I bet your both real happy to be together again, he kind of told us that you've both been separated for a lot of years" she says, I nod in answer,
"Little longer then that but yeah, its been real nice seeing his ugly mug after so long" I say smiling at him who's nodding and smiling, takes him a second but then glares at me when he realises what I said about him, I hear sniggers around the table,
"I'm kidding, you know we get our good looks from our folks" I say, he nudges my shoulder with his own for that.
"So how come you were separated for so long?" Kaylee asks, I pause at this, my eyes stuck on the table, not sure how best to explain.
"You don't need to if you don't want" Mal says, I take a big breath from and exhale, knowing its best to get this over with,
"That wouldn't be fair on you Mal and you know it. There are…parts I don't remember but I can tell you what I know. I got taken by some rustlers from our home, I tries to shout but they had my mouth covered and they knocked me out with some injection they put in my arm, when I woke up I was on a ship in a cell with a few others there. I tried to escape, some of the others too but we'd get caught and punished, told to behave until we arrived at the destination, so I thought if can't get out then, then maybe wait until we land...when we did land we were all chained up together and taken off the ship for the first time, it was a slavers auction that we were taken to that was being held at some village but I don't remember what it was called nor its planet…it's not populated anymore I know that" I say, still remembering the screams from that day.
"Why?" the big guy Jayne asks, I look up at him, meeting him in the eye,
"Because the Reevers that interrupted the auction killed most of them that day" I say, I hear the intake of breath from them all at the mention of their name,
"Reavers? They weren't near our planet, or near any planet a good distance from our home world, they must have taken you a fair way" Mal says, I know he's keeping himself together, probably going to wait till he's heard everything before he asks questions,
"I don't know, maybe? They never told us where we were being taken to and we couldn't keep track of time in that cell could have been a week maybe but I don't know. All I remember of that day was standing on stage like damn cattle with a few others and people bidding on us."
"Until the screams started, I didn't know why until I looked behind me and saw these two big ships coming down from the atmosphere, but I knew what they were as soon as I saw them, we all know how they have those ships. Unfortunately the others and I were on a chain link together and couldn't get far nor could we hide, we tried to help each other, they were most of them trying to protect me, I think I was the youngest there but I did my best to help them, to fight off any reevers that came at us, but I think that from ten of us that were on that link there were three left. They took us and a few from the crowd that were left on to their ship after they had finished with that place, but they made us watch them destroy that place and the people there" I say, clenching my fist every so often.
"Wait…so you were taken by reevers? Seriously? How the hell are you alive?" Wash asks, I can see the shock and disbelief on his face, as I can see similar in the others, Jayne is looking at me almost exactly the same, Zoey has a frown on her face little like Mal's thinking one, and Kaylee bless her just has fear plastered all over her.
"By keeping myself alive…they had a lot of others on their ship, we were kept in these cages separate from each other. But there were a lot us, there had to be for how many were on that ship, I never imagined so many of them on just one ship. They'd take someone and sometimes they wouldn't come back, but sometimes they would…but they'd be missing something, sometimes an ear, sometimes a whole arm, most of them their minds" I say, my gaze fixed on the mat in front of me, not really looking at the woven detail but the flashes in my mind of the time I had to endure there.
"But…how did you get away?" Kaylee asks, I force myself to look away and to Kaylee, the poor thing has tears in her eyes. I can't tell them…
"They had to get more people, so the next time I felt the ship land I used what strength I had to escape out of the cage and managed to get off the ship and run into village they were terrorizing. I knew what houses they had already gone to because of what they left behind. So, I hid in one and pretended to be dead, made sure my face was dirtier so they couldn't recognise me in case they went back to check, and waited until they left. Eventually when they did I got some supplies and left to find another place, I managed to get a couple of rides to other planets but I didn't know where I was for a long time. Then I finally got wind of the name Malcolm Reynolds" I say with a smile, looking over to Mal, seeing him meet my eye, and without words he takes my hand in his, I smile at him for this,
"Tracked him to this side of the verse and learned what ship your on after speaking to a few people and then well you know the rest" I say, looking at all their expressions, I think that most of them are still absorbing the information, not that I blame them,
"So…the reevers did give you them scars?" Mal asks, pointing at them in question, I nod silently in answer,
"Not exactly going to go on board that kind of ship and leave without a mark or two Mal" I say, though knowing I've got a hell of a lot more marks then that but not willing to divulge that kind of information any time soon.
"So how else do you fight other than with your fists, know how to use a weapon?" Zoey asks, I look to her and I swear if it weren't for the fact I'm pretty sure she'd shoot me I would give her a hug for the topic change, and I think she knows that from the silent eyebrow raise she does,
"I'm a good sniper shooting, also close range pistol and good with knives, I'm also a good cook" I say, giving them a smile, hearing a couple chuckles at that,
"Hopefully not with the same knives" Wash says causing us all to laugh,
"Damn that's something id love, one of your roast sandwiches, you used to make them amazing like" Mal says, I grin at that, remembering the utter mess id make with momas leftovers and stuffing most of it all in between two slices of bread.
"I think next time we dock we'll have to put these so called skills to the test" Jayne says, I grin at him for that but not in agreement, him nodding too, I sense a challenge there too but I look forward to it..
and just like that there is no more questions about my dark past, and even though there's a lot more to that story, that's something they don't need to know now, it was a lot to take in I'm sure for them all, Kaylee being from what I can guess a faint of heart would only pass out of puke at some of the other things, and I don't think I could ever muster the courage to look Mal in the eye after him knowing the things I had to do, all to keep myself alive yes, but not many people would ever want to be in the company of an ex reever.
Hey everyone sorry about the very long wait, I finally got this chapter done, I apologise for any mistakes I had to quickly fly through it so I could upload it quicker, hope you all like and enjoy I will try to get on with the next chapter and a couple others, I would appreciate any votes on next chapters for my other stories so I know which to try to do sooner, so look forward to hearing from you all
Stay safe!