Increscunt Animi by Proxii Bleu
(Note: Sorry about the lag in updates, life gets hectic sometimes :)
VII
"Drop him, or I drop you." Jayne stood in the sitting room holding Wash by the neck. The pilot was beginning to turn a satisfying shade of purple, but the muzzle of the gun in his back convinced him that holding onto the smaller man would be a painful, or lethal mistake.
"He insulted my Momma." growled the mercenary. The hammer of the gun clicked as Zoe pressed it harder into Jayne's back.
"Do I sound like I care?" Jayne let Wash go, the pilot gasping audibly as he sucked sweet oxygen into his aching lungs. Zoe took the gun out of the larger man's back, and stood watching as her husband regained his ability to breathe. It would be a long time before he would say anything less than benign to Jayne Cobb, not to mention the fact that his neck was going to be purple for about a week with long finger marks.
"Next time, I ain't gonna be nice."
"Likewise." said Zoe as she holstered her weapon. Wash opened his mouth to say something when a sharp pain laced through his skull. Stumbling, he tried to regain his bearings when all trains of thought stopped, the only thing his mind could focus on was a series of jumbled images before a voice like something out a horror movie ripped into him screaming manically about feral wolves, and something about the night.
Staggering, Wash grabbed onto Jayne as his nose began to bleed. Surprised, Jayne knocked him aside, but stopped when he saw the state the pilot was in. Letting out a strangled cry, the younger man fell to the ground writhing feebly, blood trickling out of his nose, and from around his eyes as he passed out.
Staring, Zoe dashed over to where he spouse was lying on the ground. Holding his head, she tried to get him to come around, but- Something out the corner of her eye attracted her attention. Glancing over her shoulder, Zoe gaped as River stood in the corner naked with a shocked expression on her face as she looked down at the pilot. Lifting her gaze to Zoe, she shook her head carefully as if trying to get rid of the image in front of her.
"I only wanted him to listen." said the apparition before disappearing into the wall. Zoe Warren had seen a lot of strange things in her life, many of them inexplicable even now, but seeing Simon's sister seemingly appear out of nowhere was more than her fragile nerves could handle.
She screamed.
***
Mal raced through the corridors at top speed. Zoe did NOT scream. Never, in all the time he had known her had the woman ever let out a single cry of surprise, or fear. She was silent when her brother stepped on a landmine right in front of her, she had been solemn when watching Simon dig a bullet out of Mal's leg after a run-in with a band of pirates who had been rather inclined to steal Serentiy, and shot the captain after he'd taken out the majority of their party. Not a single peep had escaped from her lips when Niska had sliced off Mal's ear, and given it to her wrapped in a handkerchief.
Zoe did not scream.
Crashing into the sitting room, Mal shoved Jayne out of the way, and looked down at Wash who was lying in Zoe's arms. His first officer on the other hand was sitting on the floor staring over at the corner, her eyes wide like dinner plates as she continued to gape at empty space. Waving his hand in front of her face, Mal snapped Zoe out of it.
"What the hell happened in here?"
"I don't know, " said Jayne as he scratched the back of his neck. "One minute he was up, next minute he was on the floor."
"Did you do this?" asked Mal.
"He didn't do this," muttered Zoe quietly. "River did."
"Huh?"
"I saw her in the corner, she said that she wanted to talk to him." Jayne backed up towards the door, his face ashen as he took in the woman's words.
"Oh shit!"
"What? What is it Jayne?" The mercenary didn't say anything. "Damnit Jayne, either you tell me, or I send your ass out the airlock!"
"Okay, Simon and River found out what I did on Ariel."
"So?"
"So, well remember when I got banged up, and ended up in medbay?" Mal just glared at the other man. "Well when I was in there, Simon threatened me with... some things, and River said that she could kill me with her brain."
"What?" Zoe started muttering under her breath. Rubbing his hand over his face, Mal stared up at the ceiling as he tried to think. Only a few minutes ago, River had been awake, but then she had one of her episodes - or was it something else?
"Get Wash to medbay - don't ask questions Jayne, just do it. Zoe go with Wash, I'm going to see about the good doctor." With that he strode out into the corridor, his steps long and sharp as he headed to the Companion's shuttle. Not bothering to wait for an invitation, he walked right in, his way eventually blocked by Inara who stood glaring at him as he invaded her personal space.
"Move." The woman just stood there with her arms folded defensively over her chest. The look on her face clearly telling the captain that she had absolutely no intention of moving anywhere. Mal smiled sarcastically, her simply picked the Companion up, and set her aside. Leaving her sputtering her indignation, Mal stormed into her bedroom, and stood staring down at Simon what was huddled in the sheets.
"So, how long are you planning on being pathetic?" Simon smiled weakly.
"Pathetic would be a step up I'm afraid."
"Well then I suggest that you take that step, because I got two sick people on this ship, and I ain't about to let the preacher give them last rites just because you want to feel sorry for yourself!"
"Did you ever stop and think that it might be more than just some sort of fit that I'm having? No? Well it doesn't surprise me!" Mal balled his fists. One the one hand he wanted to just grab Simon, and beat the living daylights out of him, on the other he knew that the younger man was going through a lot right now, and given everything that had happened in the past few months it wasn't such a stretch that the doctor would finally start to snap. Then again, Mal had been through a war. He had nightmares every night about the things that he'd seen other men do, and things that he'd done himself. However, unlike Simon, he'd learned to accept it a long time ago. He couldn't change it, couldn't undo it, just accpet it for what it was.
"Look," Mal took a deep breath and sat down on the bed. For something that was used so much, he was surprised to find that the mattress was still firm. "I know that you've been through a lot."
"Really?"
"Look Simon, I'm trying to give you some of that touchy-feely advice that you're so fond of, and I intend to give it. Now look, you've been through hell and back. You see your old man for what he is, your mom's messed up from being married to him, and somehow he's invovled in sending your sister off to be a nice guinea pig for the Alliance." Mal paused to see if Simon was listening. Judging by the way that the doctor's jaw was set, he had his attention.
"After that you basically throw your life away to save your sister, and now you're on the run, living with us barbarians, and working for your cut of money from our less-than-legal activities."
"Less-than-legal is a mild way of putting it." quipped Simon. Mal chose to ingore that.
"Okay, but it's what it is. GET OVER IT! Yes, your sister is a burden, it's normal to feel that way. The girl is half-crazy, reads minds, and talks in code. You're living with criminals, albeit 'nice' criminals, but still-"
"My life is nothing like I'd planned."
"And you think mine is?" said Mal. "Hell, I was supposed to be a farmer, but the Alliance had other ideas. Wash was once a top-notch pilot, they kicked him out because they said he was crazy."
"He plays with dinosaurs."
"Well that might be the one time the Alliance was right about something, but look none of us here have lives like we planned. Hell, I'm sure even Inara here didn't plan on being a hooker." The Companion just glared at Mal icily from the corner where she was standing.
"How do you do it?"
"Huh?"
"How do you 'live with it'?" Mal scratched the back of his neck as he thought. Well there wasn't any real science to it. He just did.
"Well first I accept it, then I see how I can live with it, and then I start planning for the next day."
"What if I can't?"
"Well then I'll kick your skinny butt all over this ship until you do. Now do you feel like you can do some doctorin'?" Simon sighed, and woozily sat up. His face was still swollen from hitting the wall, and to top it off he also had a nice dark red arch under his left eye from where Mal clipped him. Then again, that was nothing compared to the purple and black ring surrounding the captain's right eye.
"I'm sorry about hitting you."
"I'm not." said Mal.
***
"He's unconscious." Simon stood in Wash and Zoe's quarters examining the pilot. Since his encounter with River, he'd been dead the the world. Zoe's mouth turned down at the corners, as the doctor went about his business.
"I can see that Simon, what's wrong with my husband?"
"I don't know. Has this happened before?"
"No."
"Does he have a history of seizures, migraines, or sensory disturbances?"
"The only person who has that is Mal." Simon frowned, and looked over at Reynolds who was idly leaning against the wall.
"Accident when I was a kid. Left me with a headache about once a week, seizures I haven't had since I was ten." Simon processed the information, and then went back to examining Wash.
"As far as I can tell, he's just unconscious. If he wasn't knocked out, or exposed to some sort of viral or chemical agent, then I have no way of diagnosing him unless I have access to better equipment."
"What if it was River?" Both men turned to look at Zoe who was now examining the floor. There was something about her tone, that Simon didn't like.
"What do you mean?"
"When Wash passed out I saw - I saw her ghost in the corner of the room saying she just wanted to talk to him." Tam threw up his hands, and paced in front of the bed.
"Look, I know that my sister is a special girl, but I doubt it seriously that she did this."
"Well Jayne said that she told him that she could kill him with her brain." said Mal idly. Simon scoffed, and rubbed his forehead.
"Okay, Jayne Cobb is far from a medical expert, and if I remember when River said that we we were having a rather tense discussion with him."
"You mean threatening to kill him if he ever turned you and your sister in again?" The doctor turned pale. Even though he was silent, Mal knew that he'd guessed correctly about the rest of the story that the mercenary had left out.
"I have to see about River." said Simon quietly as he walked out of the room. Zoe watched him leave, and then turned back to Wash.
"Mal, I think she did something to him."
"I think so too Zoe, but I don't think she intended to hurt him."
"Then why is my husband in a coma?"
"I don't know-"
"You heard what Jayne said!"
"Zoe-"
"No!" Zoe cut Mal off as she walked back and forth in the room. Wash was her life, her soulmate, the father of her unborn child, and the last thing she needed wasa to be a widowed mother because of some gaisi girl with mental problems.
"I lost a lot of people in the war Mal."
"I know, I was there."
"And I won't lose my husbad. If she did something to him..." Zoe's hand came to rest on the butt of her gun. Reynolds got the message loud and clear. Rubbing his head, which was beginning to ache again, he stepped up the stairs that led into the hall.
"Okay, look until Wash quits breathing or something let's just give River the benefit of the doubt here. Can you do that?" Zoe folded her arms across her chest.
"Barely sir."
"Good. Now, I'm gonna get to the bottom of this. In the meantime just make sure Wash is okay." With that Mal left. His footsteps taking him down to his quarters where River was residing. Naturally, Simon wasn't there. He probably thought River was in their room. Making sure that her brother was nowhere in sight, he shut the hatch, and stood staring down at the girl curled up in his bed.
"I know you're awake, so you can quit pretendin'" River's eyes opened, her slim face pointing towards Reynolds as he stood there watching.
"Did Wash get my message?"
"Yeah, he got it, and now Zoe wants to give you one of her own. Now, I am the only thing standing between you and her, so either you tell me what the fuck you did to my pilot, or I let her ask ya." River shakily sat up. Worse was an understatement about how she felt right about now, but with what Zoe had in mind...
"He needs to hide the ship."
"Huh? Why does he need to do that?"
"Because of the wolves."
"Damnit River, I don't understand that shit! I need words."
"I'm trying!" River started crying from both stress and illness. The sound high, and nasal as she sat there rocking back and forth on the bed. "It's hard to even speak!" Mal thumped his head against the wall, the action jarring loose a flexi on the shelves. Picking it up, he remembered the clarity River had with pens, and handed it to the girl.
"Okay, tell me then." River opened her mouth. "With this." He handed her the silicone slip, and the stylus. Taking it in her hands, she wrote something on the blue surface before handing it back to Mal. Picking up the slip, he examined what she wrote.
"Reavers." Mal paced around the room. It made sense. Wash was the pilot, he could move the ship, and keep the Reavers from finding them. But that didn't explain why he was unconscious.
"What did you do to Wash River?"
"I spoke to him."
"How?" River reached out to Mal. Her slim, pale hand shaking slightly as it hovered in mid-air. Taking it, Mal cautiously approached the bed. Simon's sister smiling oddly as if she had some sort of secret.
"How did you talk to him River?"
"Like this." said a voice in his head.
(Note: Sorry about the lag in updates, life gets hectic sometimes :)
VII
"Drop him, or I drop you." Jayne stood in the sitting room holding Wash by the neck. The pilot was beginning to turn a satisfying shade of purple, but the muzzle of the gun in his back convinced him that holding onto the smaller man would be a painful, or lethal mistake.
"He insulted my Momma." growled the mercenary. The hammer of the gun clicked as Zoe pressed it harder into Jayne's back.
"Do I sound like I care?" Jayne let Wash go, the pilot gasping audibly as he sucked sweet oxygen into his aching lungs. Zoe took the gun out of the larger man's back, and stood watching as her husband regained his ability to breathe. It would be a long time before he would say anything less than benign to Jayne Cobb, not to mention the fact that his neck was going to be purple for about a week with long finger marks.
"Next time, I ain't gonna be nice."
"Likewise." said Zoe as she holstered her weapon. Wash opened his mouth to say something when a sharp pain laced through his skull. Stumbling, he tried to regain his bearings when all trains of thought stopped, the only thing his mind could focus on was a series of jumbled images before a voice like something out a horror movie ripped into him screaming manically about feral wolves, and something about the night.
Staggering, Wash grabbed onto Jayne as his nose began to bleed. Surprised, Jayne knocked him aside, but stopped when he saw the state the pilot was in. Letting out a strangled cry, the younger man fell to the ground writhing feebly, blood trickling out of his nose, and from around his eyes as he passed out.
Staring, Zoe dashed over to where he spouse was lying on the ground. Holding his head, she tried to get him to come around, but- Something out the corner of her eye attracted her attention. Glancing over her shoulder, Zoe gaped as River stood in the corner naked with a shocked expression on her face as she looked down at the pilot. Lifting her gaze to Zoe, she shook her head carefully as if trying to get rid of the image in front of her.
"I only wanted him to listen." said the apparition before disappearing into the wall. Zoe Warren had seen a lot of strange things in her life, many of them inexplicable even now, but seeing Simon's sister seemingly appear out of nowhere was more than her fragile nerves could handle.
She screamed.
***
Mal raced through the corridors at top speed. Zoe did NOT scream. Never, in all the time he had known her had the woman ever let out a single cry of surprise, or fear. She was silent when her brother stepped on a landmine right in front of her, she had been solemn when watching Simon dig a bullet out of Mal's leg after a run-in with a band of pirates who had been rather inclined to steal Serentiy, and shot the captain after he'd taken out the majority of their party. Not a single peep had escaped from her lips when Niska had sliced off Mal's ear, and given it to her wrapped in a handkerchief.
Zoe did not scream.
Crashing into the sitting room, Mal shoved Jayne out of the way, and looked down at Wash who was lying in Zoe's arms. His first officer on the other hand was sitting on the floor staring over at the corner, her eyes wide like dinner plates as she continued to gape at empty space. Waving his hand in front of her face, Mal snapped Zoe out of it.
"What the hell happened in here?"
"I don't know, " said Jayne as he scratched the back of his neck. "One minute he was up, next minute he was on the floor."
"Did you do this?" asked Mal.
"He didn't do this," muttered Zoe quietly. "River did."
"Huh?"
"I saw her in the corner, she said that she wanted to talk to him." Jayne backed up towards the door, his face ashen as he took in the woman's words.
"Oh shit!"
"What? What is it Jayne?" The mercenary didn't say anything. "Damnit Jayne, either you tell me, or I send your ass out the airlock!"
"Okay, Simon and River found out what I did on Ariel."
"So?"
"So, well remember when I got banged up, and ended up in medbay?" Mal just glared at the other man. "Well when I was in there, Simon threatened me with... some things, and River said that she could kill me with her brain."
"What?" Zoe started muttering under her breath. Rubbing his hand over his face, Mal stared up at the ceiling as he tried to think. Only a few minutes ago, River had been awake, but then she had one of her episodes - or was it something else?
"Get Wash to medbay - don't ask questions Jayne, just do it. Zoe go with Wash, I'm going to see about the good doctor." With that he strode out into the corridor, his steps long and sharp as he headed to the Companion's shuttle. Not bothering to wait for an invitation, he walked right in, his way eventually blocked by Inara who stood glaring at him as he invaded her personal space.
"Move." The woman just stood there with her arms folded defensively over her chest. The look on her face clearly telling the captain that she had absolutely no intention of moving anywhere. Mal smiled sarcastically, her simply picked the Companion up, and set her aside. Leaving her sputtering her indignation, Mal stormed into her bedroom, and stood staring down at Simon what was huddled in the sheets.
"So, how long are you planning on being pathetic?" Simon smiled weakly.
"Pathetic would be a step up I'm afraid."
"Well then I suggest that you take that step, because I got two sick people on this ship, and I ain't about to let the preacher give them last rites just because you want to feel sorry for yourself!"
"Did you ever stop and think that it might be more than just some sort of fit that I'm having? No? Well it doesn't surprise me!" Mal balled his fists. One the one hand he wanted to just grab Simon, and beat the living daylights out of him, on the other he knew that the younger man was going through a lot right now, and given everything that had happened in the past few months it wasn't such a stretch that the doctor would finally start to snap. Then again, Mal had been through a war. He had nightmares every night about the things that he'd seen other men do, and things that he'd done himself. However, unlike Simon, he'd learned to accept it a long time ago. He couldn't change it, couldn't undo it, just accpet it for what it was.
"Look," Mal took a deep breath and sat down on the bed. For something that was used so much, he was surprised to find that the mattress was still firm. "I know that you've been through a lot."
"Really?"
"Look Simon, I'm trying to give you some of that touchy-feely advice that you're so fond of, and I intend to give it. Now look, you've been through hell and back. You see your old man for what he is, your mom's messed up from being married to him, and somehow he's invovled in sending your sister off to be a nice guinea pig for the Alliance." Mal paused to see if Simon was listening. Judging by the way that the doctor's jaw was set, he had his attention.
"After that you basically throw your life away to save your sister, and now you're on the run, living with us barbarians, and working for your cut of money from our less-than-legal activities."
"Less-than-legal is a mild way of putting it." quipped Simon. Mal chose to ingore that.
"Okay, but it's what it is. GET OVER IT! Yes, your sister is a burden, it's normal to feel that way. The girl is half-crazy, reads minds, and talks in code. You're living with criminals, albeit 'nice' criminals, but still-"
"My life is nothing like I'd planned."
"And you think mine is?" said Mal. "Hell, I was supposed to be a farmer, but the Alliance had other ideas. Wash was once a top-notch pilot, they kicked him out because they said he was crazy."
"He plays with dinosaurs."
"Well that might be the one time the Alliance was right about something, but look none of us here have lives like we planned. Hell, I'm sure even Inara here didn't plan on being a hooker." The Companion just glared at Mal icily from the corner where she was standing.
"How do you do it?"
"Huh?"
"How do you 'live with it'?" Mal scratched the back of his neck as he thought. Well there wasn't any real science to it. He just did.
"Well first I accept it, then I see how I can live with it, and then I start planning for the next day."
"What if I can't?"
"Well then I'll kick your skinny butt all over this ship until you do. Now do you feel like you can do some doctorin'?" Simon sighed, and woozily sat up. His face was still swollen from hitting the wall, and to top it off he also had a nice dark red arch under his left eye from where Mal clipped him. Then again, that was nothing compared to the purple and black ring surrounding the captain's right eye.
"I'm sorry about hitting you."
"I'm not." said Mal.
***
"He's unconscious." Simon stood in Wash and Zoe's quarters examining the pilot. Since his encounter with River, he'd been dead the the world. Zoe's mouth turned down at the corners, as the doctor went about his business.
"I can see that Simon, what's wrong with my husband?"
"I don't know. Has this happened before?"
"No."
"Does he have a history of seizures, migraines, or sensory disturbances?"
"The only person who has that is Mal." Simon frowned, and looked over at Reynolds who was idly leaning against the wall.
"Accident when I was a kid. Left me with a headache about once a week, seizures I haven't had since I was ten." Simon processed the information, and then went back to examining Wash.
"As far as I can tell, he's just unconscious. If he wasn't knocked out, or exposed to some sort of viral or chemical agent, then I have no way of diagnosing him unless I have access to better equipment."
"What if it was River?" Both men turned to look at Zoe who was now examining the floor. There was something about her tone, that Simon didn't like.
"What do you mean?"
"When Wash passed out I saw - I saw her ghost in the corner of the room saying she just wanted to talk to him." Tam threw up his hands, and paced in front of the bed.
"Look, I know that my sister is a special girl, but I doubt it seriously that she did this."
"Well Jayne said that she told him that she could kill him with her brain." said Mal idly. Simon scoffed, and rubbed his forehead.
"Okay, Jayne Cobb is far from a medical expert, and if I remember when River said that we we were having a rather tense discussion with him."
"You mean threatening to kill him if he ever turned you and your sister in again?" The doctor turned pale. Even though he was silent, Mal knew that he'd guessed correctly about the rest of the story that the mercenary had left out.
"I have to see about River." said Simon quietly as he walked out of the room. Zoe watched him leave, and then turned back to Wash.
"Mal, I think she did something to him."
"I think so too Zoe, but I don't think she intended to hurt him."
"Then why is my husband in a coma?"
"I don't know-"
"You heard what Jayne said!"
"Zoe-"
"No!" Zoe cut Mal off as she walked back and forth in the room. Wash was her life, her soulmate, the father of her unborn child, and the last thing she needed wasa to be a widowed mother because of some gaisi girl with mental problems.
"I lost a lot of people in the war Mal."
"I know, I was there."
"And I won't lose my husbad. If she did something to him..." Zoe's hand came to rest on the butt of her gun. Reynolds got the message loud and clear. Rubbing his head, which was beginning to ache again, he stepped up the stairs that led into the hall.
"Okay, look until Wash quits breathing or something let's just give River the benefit of the doubt here. Can you do that?" Zoe folded her arms across her chest.
"Barely sir."
"Good. Now, I'm gonna get to the bottom of this. In the meantime just make sure Wash is okay." With that Mal left. His footsteps taking him down to his quarters where River was residing. Naturally, Simon wasn't there. He probably thought River was in their room. Making sure that her brother was nowhere in sight, he shut the hatch, and stood staring down at the girl curled up in his bed.
"I know you're awake, so you can quit pretendin'" River's eyes opened, her slim face pointing towards Reynolds as he stood there watching.
"Did Wash get my message?"
"Yeah, he got it, and now Zoe wants to give you one of her own. Now, I am the only thing standing between you and her, so either you tell me what the fuck you did to my pilot, or I let her ask ya." River shakily sat up. Worse was an understatement about how she felt right about now, but with what Zoe had in mind...
"He needs to hide the ship."
"Huh? Why does he need to do that?"
"Because of the wolves."
"Damnit River, I don't understand that shit! I need words."
"I'm trying!" River started crying from both stress and illness. The sound high, and nasal as she sat there rocking back and forth on the bed. "It's hard to even speak!" Mal thumped his head against the wall, the action jarring loose a flexi on the shelves. Picking it up, he remembered the clarity River had with pens, and handed it to the girl.
"Okay, tell me then." River opened her mouth. "With this." He handed her the silicone slip, and the stylus. Taking it in her hands, she wrote something on the blue surface before handing it back to Mal. Picking up the slip, he examined what she wrote.
"Reavers." Mal paced around the room. It made sense. Wash was the pilot, he could move the ship, and keep the Reavers from finding them. But that didn't explain why he was unconscious.
"What did you do to Wash River?"
"I spoke to him."
"How?" River reached out to Mal. Her slim, pale hand shaking slightly as it hovered in mid-air. Taking it, Mal cautiously approached the bed. Simon's sister smiling oddly as if she had some sort of secret.
"How did you talk to him River?"
"Like this." said a voice in his head.