Conscious Thought
Author: Kryptonite
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I do not own Firefly. Though I wish I could kick Fox executives in the ass.
Summary: What if River wasn't always totally insane? Third person following River mostly.
Jayne sat down grumbling in the sand, ignoring River as she plopped down a few feet away from him.
" River, are you coming?" Simon asked, stopping at the sudden loss of his sister.
The girl nodded before stripping off the red, patterned sundress she'd been wearing over the bathing suit Inara had lent her. Jayne did his best to stare straight ahead. For once in his life he cursed his peripheral vision. Standing up she pulled her long black hair into a knot on the back of her head and ran full tilt for the water.
Simon watched amused as she leapt in, swimming immediately. The doctor sat down slowly, placing Kaylee's folding chair under his bottom.
" What's the matter doc, not up for swimming?" Jayne questioned uninterested as he watched Inara and Kaylee giggle and prissy foot their way into the water.
" Not right now. Maybe later." He added, eyes closing tiredly as he looked up at the sky. Within moments the doctor was asleep under the blazing sun. Jayne snorted, as he knew that when Simon woke up he would be completely cooked.
Jayne pulled Kaylee's umbrella from the pile of objects that had been brought along on the trip. Leaving his boots, long pants, T-shirt and leather gloves on he laid back on the sand, getting comfortable, using the umbrella as a shade for his face.
River swam around, enjoying the feeling of being back inside her own body, without worrying. She broached the surface taking a deep breath and getting her bearings. She had swum out farther than she had intended and headed back into the shore against the current.
It was hard work but with the majority of it spent beneath the surface she managed to get back to a reasonable distance from the sandy shoreline. River left her eyes open through the seawater, watching schools of fish dart in and out of the coral reefs. Taking another deep breath she dived back down deeper. Suddenly the water wasn't enough.
"You are to be tested by water." The girl stood crying on the beach, her family and friends standing silently behind her, not saying anything to help her.
River started struggling beneath the water, her hair coming loose from its knot.
" If you float then you are a witch."
" And if I drown you murdered an innocent woman." She spat between her sobs, earning herself a hard hit to the mouth, causing it to split.
" You are not to speak witch!" The man shouted, standing over her and causing her to tremble.
River closed her eyes against the images but couldn't get away as they were burned into her brain.
Elizabeth walked into the salty waters, dragging the heavy chains with her, struggling to stay upright as the waves crashed against her legs. Suddenly the bottom dropped out from under her feet and she sank rapidly, the metal pulling her down even as she struggled to reach the surface.
River screamed out the last of her oxygen as she headed for what little light she could see, what seemed a century to the surface. Her long, tangled hair, freed from its restraint, caught on the craggy coral reefs, trapping her beneath the water.
Jayne sat up quickly, knocking the umbrella over. Something was wrong. He raced down to the waters edge to see Inara and Kaylee playing in the shallows, gossiping about girly stuff.
" Where's River?" He shouted, looking further and further out as the panic started to completely control him.
" I… don't know. She must have swum further down the beach." Kaylee was hesitant knowing that River had a habit of getting in trouble when she wandered away.
Jayne was already pulling off his boots, socks and shirt as he raced into the water. In a moment he was under the surface pulling for where the source of his anxiety lay.
River already knew what it felt like to drown. To be suffocated by salty tasting water flooding over your lips and down your throat and filling your lungs until there was no space for life-giving air left. She didn't want to do that again. It was slow and painful.
A figure was swimming towards her from the surface. River was too oxygen deprived to determine between her mind and Elizabeth's as the two views switched back and forth in front of River's eyes.
Jayne saw the problem as soon as he reached River. Her eyes were glassed over, as they usually where whenever she went crazy. Swimming around behind her, he worked at releasing the few clumps of hair that were tangled in and around the coral's fingers.
He managed to get the hair unattached without cutting any off. Grabbing River around the waist he started stroking for the surface and the beach, knowing exactly where to go even under the salty waves.
" Wake Simon!" Jayne shouted as soon as he burst the surface with River, swimming hurriedly for the shore as River hung limply in his arm, floating on the surface. Kaylee was already half way to Simon when Jayne shouted.
A/N: Eighth chapter, took me really long, didn't it? Sorry about that. Not exactly the way I pictured the underwater scene but I guess it'll have to do, kinda going back and forth between Jayne and River.