Title: Reaver, River, Rayne
Summary: River, Reaver, Rayne…are all the same.
Rating: PG-13, maybe light R
Characters: River, Kaylee, Jayne, Operative, YoSaffBridge, a Reaver, Others
Pairing: There is some River/Jayne, but it is mostly Gen
Warning: There is some talk of rape and some twisted relationship aspects.
Spoilers/Timeline: Post Serenity and some light spoilers. Takes place in my 'verse and takes place three years after "Hypocrite"
Sequel To: None
Series: No series, but takes place in the TMTC or H.E. 'verse that I'm making.
Disclaimer: I don't own them. Someone speaks lyrics from 'When in Rome' by Nickel Creek
Author's Note: This one is a little dark, though not for River, Kaylee, or Jayne. You'd have to read to get it.

February 13, 2551

Sihnon

They had a Reaver, all tied up in a room. He growled and laughed and tried to cut himself up every day of every week. In her dreams he smiled at her as he ate her flesh and raped her to death. In her dreams she screamed as he touched her. In her waking moments she gave his room a blank stare and wondered how a person could be made just out of rage. Were they going to make her into something made just out of rage, too?

Once upon a time, long before she had started breathing, her mother had felt the rage of Reavers. Reavers… River…Reaver…River…don't give gorramed moonbrained River weapons. Was that real? Had that happened? Yes, years ago. River, Reaver, Rayne…all start with 'R' and all are the same.

They never let her see the Reaver, but she saw him in her mind and dreams. She saw the Reaver in the same way she saw their thoughts and feelings. Reality no longer made sense to her, but thoughts and feelings helped to form some kind of reality for her to stay in. She saw their truths and she saw the Reaver's truth…they had made him.

"Make a monster to farther man kind." She giggled softly to herself; it was a crazed giggle that worried the sane part of her. "It's not right."

Technician Ching ignored her as he strapped her into her chair. He adjusted the magnets on her legs and made sure they were firmly attached to her legs.

"Rayne is going to sleep?" She asked him in a tiny voice. Ching just gave her a blank look. She felt her eyes start to tear up. "Don't put her to sleep." She begged him urgently. "It's not noble there."

Again, Ching ignored her. He took a needle from another technician and forcefully shoved it into her forehead. Her eyes fluttered and she caught just a glimpse of the monitors before her eyes shut tightly.

"She's dreaming." Ching told someone that she could no longer see. "Nightmares, off the charts." He visibility shivered. "Reavers would be my guess."

"Good, just amp it up. Let's see how connected she can get to that thing." A new voice-one that was very calm and clean-stated. "Rayne Cobb, are you dreaming of Reavers, today?"

From her chair, Rayne Cobb began convulsing, mewing in misery.

She was in a ship, though it was not a ship she knew. The ship was old and rusted and smelt like death and decay. Rayne looked around her, until she spotted the Reaver. He was just standing there, at the entrance of the cargo bay of the ship.

"Hello." Rayne said in her tiny and child-like voice. The Reaver's responded with a simple low growl. Rayne cocked her head to one side and gave him a curious look. "What's your name?"

Inside her head, a voice echoed. "Not a man alive knows that, little girl."

She laughed softly. "Sometimes she forgets her name, but Shepard Book always reminds Rayne." She innocently stepped forward and the Reaver growled again. Rayne stopped moving, but went on speaking: "She could find his name, if he likes. He doesn't have to hurt her this time. We could be friends in our heads. We could have names, again. We don't have to be the monsters they're trying to make us."

The Reaver growled again and slowly moved toward her. Rayne offered him a sweet and somewhat shy smile. Very slowly, she stuck out her hand for him. The Reaver eyed her through his scars and made a very strange and low ramble in his throat. Rayne did not move; she knew that it would end up okay.

"Don't hurt Rayne." Rayne whispered. "We're the same and you don't hurt your own. Reaver, River, Rayne…all the same."

The Reaver seemed to nearly understand her. He moved nervously and his voice echoed in Rayne's mind: "All weak. Cut them open and see what's inside. Can't see what it is, but its there." Rayne closed her eyes tightly as the Reaver charged her and made her fall onto the ground.

Rayne opened her eyes and stared into the eyes of the Reaver. He was on top of her and his eyes were staring deeply into hers. The Reaver's hands had pinned her wrist down and his legs were starting to try and pry her legs apart. Rayne closed her eyes and felt the Reaver unzip his pants and push her hospital gown up; it was then that she noticed her hands were free. If she wanted to, Rayne was sure she could fight back and get away. Rayne stayed under the Reaver and let him slide and push into her. She let out a sharp gasp.

"Mine. The same and you're mine. Sweet and virginal flesh. Touch…for real…soon, little girl." The Reaver's voice echoed in Rayne's mind. He bit at her neck flesh before he actually bit into her neck and pulled on Rayne's skin.

In her chair, Rayne let out a scream and had a small seizure. To her right, Ching recorded everything. If his time table was correct, she had actually gotten the Reaver to not attack her as quickly as he usually did; girl was getting awfully good.

Over by the monitors, Dr. Lemm watched Rayne's brain activity, it was all red and off the charts. "Ching sent up a session for R. Cobb this evening and take her out of dream-sleep. I'd like her in P. and I'd like it at 40."

Ching gave the doctor an unsure look. "Forty? Sir, that could-"

"I know what it could do." Dr. Lemm cut in sharply. "However, it's worth the risk. R. Cobb is the best of our subjects. We haven't had one like her since her mother. It's worth the risk."

Ching did as he was t old and took all the needles out of Rayne. Just as her eyes began to flutter open, he jammed another needle into the middle of her forehead. Rayne was very still for a moment, then her eyes flew open and she began having seizures again.

Shadow

River Cobb knew she had a connection to every member of her 'family' and to all their children. She also knew that her three children had connections to one another. Her children had had connections since the day they were born; they always knew when the other two were in trouble or where they were. But, for the last couple of years, Rayne Cobb had been like a missing piece of their minds. At fourteen she had gone missing and River and her sons had stopped feeling Rayne. That was why it was such a shock to suddenly feel Rayne again.

River had been helping Kaylee hang clothes on the lines when a very sharp jab in River's brain caught her off guard. River was over whelmed by the feeling of terror and the comforting feeling of a little girl holding her hand and smiling brilliantly as she corrected spelling.

In River's mind, a little Rayne smiled proudly as she told her mother: "I can spell more words then Uncle Simon and Cap'n combined, Mommy."

Very slowly, River whispered her daughter's name: "Rayne."

Kaylee glanced over at her sister-in-law. "River?"

"She's still alive." Was River's trance-like response.

"I'm jus' sayin' you talk all purty now." Jay Cobb stated in a matter of fact tone as he shoveled hay into a huge bucket. "It's unsettlin'." He paused in thought for a moment. "Ya think Serra talks all purty, now?"

Matt Cobb shrugged as he shoveled his own hay into a huge bucket. "Maybe." He bit his lower lip and then added: "And it was the Core that did it; everyone talked all nice an' fancy there an'…I couldn't help it, Jay."

Jay let out a loud laugh. "It's no thing, Matts. Jus' a statement of fact, as Ma would say." He glanced over at his younger brother. "I…I shouldn' of laughed like that." Matt gave Jay a look. "Ray, she ain't…ain't nobody knows where she is." He shook his head sadly. "Sometimes I feel bad f'r laughin' when ain't nobody knows where she's at."

Matt nodded slowly. "I know. Every time we laugh or start getting happy, I feel bad. I mean, it's like she disappeared an' I can't even feel her, anymore." He narrowed his eyes on Jay. "Can you?"

Jay shook his head. "She's not dead." He growled firmly. "We'd of felt that." Matt nodded in agreement. "Ray's jus'…gone."

"Just gone." Matt echoed softly.

That was when both men were caught off guard by a very sharp jab in their brains. They were over whelmed by the feeling of terror and the comforting feeling of a little girl. Jay heard a little girl giggling softly as he swung her around in the air. Matt felt the tug of a little hand on his pant's leg and heard a little girl's voice begging him to play soldiers with her.

"We'll play soldiers, please? We must guard the ranch from Reavers and purple bellies." Rayne's child-like voice echoed in both of her brother's minds.

Both men were caught in a trance, and both of them whispered the only word that they could form: "Rayne."

Sihnon

Rayne hated the sessions; they always asked her the silliest things and she always left wondering why they didn't just read her mind and find out for themselves. They sat her in a chair at the table and they sat on the other side of the table. The video recorder was behind them, though they didn't know that she knew it was there.

"Good evening, Rayne." Rayne glanced up through her curtain of hair to see that Jonah had joined her at the table. He was her least favorite interviewer; all tall and handsome, he wore a mask to cover the evilness inside. "How are you this evening?" Rayne did not respond, so Jonah tried again. "Your movement trainer and Dr. Lemm tell me you're doing very well."

"Why do you ask questions when you already know their answers?" Rayne's soft voice asked Jonah.

He was momentarily caught off guard, but he recovered quickly. "Because it's important that we know you understand."

There was a pregnant pause, before Rayne replied: "The girl understands, but she no longer comprehends. She's broken…mixed up and full of things that are not her own." Rayne glanced up at him through her hair. "You create monsters in your lab and then you try and control them."

Jonah leaned forward in his chair, almost as if he were going to tell her a secret. "Have you had a dream connection with the Reaver, again? Or maybe you've been talking to the deceased Shepard Book?"

Rayne let out a small and crazy laugh. "He talks to Rayne and tells her his secrets." She began to nervously play with her hands. "He tells her that no one may know them." Rayne leaned in closer to him and whispered very softly: "That's why they are called secrets." She cocked her head to one side. "You think she's pretty?" There was an angry tone to the question. "You let them hurt her and yet you lust and pull and rub to her?"

Jonah nervously cleared his throat and quickly changed the subject. "In the dreams, what has the Reaver been telling you? More secrets of the Pax and Miranda?" He chuckled lightly. "They've all been told, so…"

"They play with her." Rayne whispered softly. She seemed to have forgotten everything else and had gone off into her own little word. "They play hide and seek with her."

Jonah looked confused. "The Reaver and the dead preacher?"

"He knows he'll never get into Heaven." Was her only reply.

Jonah looked down at her papers. "The Reaver…has he been hurting you in your dreams?"

Rayne laughed again, it was somewhat unsettling. "Reavers ain't men." She said in an accent that was not her own. "They are men, a bit removed from society perhaps, but men." Rayne's accent had changed again. She moved her hair out of her face and gave Jonah a very unsettling look. "Reavers rape you to death, eat your flesh, and sew your skin into their clothing. And if you're very very lucky, they do it in that order." She leaned forward again. "Rayne is not lucky. Rayne is…Rayne is…is deep down and she cannot be found." Her voice had gone soft and child-like again.

"Rayne, in your dreams, does the Reaver rape and eat you?"

"She is his and they are the same." Rayne told Jonah. "Reaver, River, Rayne, all the same." She had a sing-song tone now and she giggled softly and breathlessly. "Mustn't give the gorram moonbrains weapons, likely kill them all."

Jonah paused again, before going on. "Rayne…the technicians say that you've been trying to cut yourself again, is that true? Are you trying to make yourself look like the Reaver?"

Rayne stood up from her chair and showed him the ugly scar on her arm. She then lifted her hospital gown and showed him the nasty scar that was across her stomach. "Badges of honor. Men of honor. Brown. Brown coats and they…they didn't back down. You shouldn't…and he showed Rayne how. He said she'd need them later and people listened to him. He's Rayne's great-grandfather and people listen to their elders." She was rambling now and she had begun walking the length of the table, going back and forth as she played with her hands.

The girl was growing more upset by the moment. "She likes brown, but not purple and blue. Purple is a royal color and blue is cold. Cold…ice…icy cold and angry and…why…why do they take the childhood away? And she was always unwell and nobody knew. Born without and they fixed her and removed what is not needed. Cut it out and fix the rest. Try and make her all better, but she's not." Rayne laughed at that and whirled around to face Jonah. She gave him an accusing glare. "You don't even know who you are and yet you try and make her what you want her to be?"

She paused and cocked her head to one side. "Everyone will always have the advantage over them and that's what will make them special. Where can a dead man go? A question with an answer only dead men know. "

Jonah stared at Rayne, unsure what she was talking about. "Rayne? Rayne, who are you speaking about?"

"When in Rome…in Rome. Family business. Mustn't…must have a player for all the parts." She looked at Jonah. "They don't have a freaky little moonbrain, yet."

Jonah just looked at her and that was when Rayne started laughing loudly and hysterically. She leaned over the table, placing her hands firmly on the table's top and began screaming: "Get them out of her! Get them out of her! Get them out of her! Get them out of her! Get them out of her! Get them out of her! Get them out of her! Get them out of her! Get them out of her!"

Shadow

River awoke with a start and quickly made sure that Jayne was sleeping next to her. Her husband stirred and he sleepily reached out one hand to try and find River's waist.

"Riv?" Jayne opened one of his blue eyes and looked up at his wife. When he saw the look of terror and confusion on her face, he was up and ready to help. "W'at? Riv? You sensin' Rayne again?" He sat up beside her. "W'at?"

River was shivering and she was playing with her hands. "Two by two, hands of blue. They couldn't have one so they chose the other." She chanted softly.

Jayne stroked River's hair and moved her closer to him. "It's alr'ght, we'll find her. Ain't a 'verse big 'nough ta stop us. Now that ya and the boys are sensin' her again, it shouldn' be a problem."

She only nodded and allowed Jayne to wrap his arms around her small body and pull her down so they could wrap their bodies together as they slept.

February 28, 2551

Sihnon

"Welcome to another day in paradise." Ching told her as he gently guided her down the halls. "One more day of fun and exciting adventures for you R. Cobb."

Rayne ignored him as she glanced toward the door of the room that they kept the Reaver in. She could not feel him in the room-they had brought him out for tests. "They'll take him away from me." Rayne told Ching in a small whisper. "Reaver, River, Rayne, they're all the same."

This time Ching ignored her. They had come to the movement training room. He unlocked the door with his pass and walked Rayne inside. Her movement trainers were waiting for her. "R. Cobb for a seven hour session." Ching told the middle aged man. "Dr. Lemm would like her to work on her styles." The man paused and gave Rayne a 'sorry' look. "No dancing today. She's been cut off until she learns to behave in sessions."

Rayne gave Ching a look as he walked out of the room. How did they except her to behave properly when they were the ones that were driving her insane? Honestly, it was down right insane. Rayne started giggling at that, or at least she did until her movement trainers started throwing hunting knives at her.

March 25, 2551

Sihnon

Sitting against the wall of her room, hands at her sides, she tried to listen for him. Where had they taken her Reaver? He had been gone for nearly a month and she wanted and needed him back. They were the same and she needed someone that was a monster like her. It made things simpler. She needed and wanted to have a connection to him in her dreams. She wanted him to rape her to death and eat her flesh in their dreams, again.

The keypad outside her door beeped and the huge iron thing swung open. Ching and an orderly stood outside her door for a moment before they walked in and picked her up off the floor. The two men drug her from the room and walked her to the interview room, they opened the door a guided her gently inside. They didn't stick around; inside they just closed the door behind her.

Inside the room, Jonah was waiting. Jonah was waiting and so was the Reaver, all chained up and growling and screaming. Rayne cocked her head to one side and gave the Reaver a curious look. The Reaver looked different in waking life: he was dressed in orderly clothing and he had all kinds of scars on his arms. Oddly enough, the burns on his face and the scars over his eyes were not has bad as he had made them seem in their dreams. Glancing over at the table, Rayne noticed that Jonah looked very nervous.

"Rayne," Jonah was speaking to her; he sounded scared. "that's the Reaver. I'm going to leave the room and I'd like you to destroy it. Can you do that for me?"

Rayne shook her head very slowly. "No. He'll always be in her head, now. Sharing a place with the rest of the dead men." She stared at the Reaver. "He made himself ugly in the dreams they shared. Why would he do that to her?"

Jonah had no answer and the Reaver only growled at her. Jonah stood up from the table and gave Rayne one last look before he left the room. A second later, the Reaver's chains fell off him. Rayne stood on one side of the room and the Reaver on the other; either seemed to want to make the first move. After all, in some twisted and abusive ways they were the only friends and loved ones they had.

"They want the cracked girl and broken boy to kill one another." Rayne explained to the Reaver. "Mommy killed your friends and elders." She lowered her eyes. "She's sorry for that."

The Reaver did not move from his spot and his voice spoke inside Rayne's head: "You're mine. Mine. Make you into my kind. Want you to see what's inside. They're all weak."

Rayne glanced over at the recorder and gave the thing a long look. "They play hide and seek with us. She thought no one was coming, but…things were not always what they appeared to be, her nameless Reaver."

Before the Reaver could blink, Rayne was on the move. The girl moved faster then any normal girl should and before anyone knew it, Rayne was standing in front of the recorder. She gave it a loopy smile, before she moved an arm back and punched the wall-hard. The recorder cracked and broke.

"No more records of torture in the tiny room." She stated firmly. Rayne glanced over at the Reaver, who had suddenly moved to stand beside her. "Will he kill her or will he find the boy that's deep inside?"

The Reaver forcefully grabbed Rayne's face with one hand and moved his face to one of her cheeks. He licked her cheek and then gave her a small nip. "The same." He muttered hoarsely into her ear. "Mine. Inside her and tasting her."

Rayne smiled to herself and forced herself out of his grip. She gave the Reaver a strange little look and spoke softly. "They know what we've done."

Rayne and the Reaver silently moved to the door and waited for it to open, as it did, the Reaver flung himself at Ching and Jonah, tearing into their flesh. It took Rayne's strength to pull him off the two screaming men.

"No!" She screamed into his face. "Bad! Go find shuttle, please. Get away and go find your family. Forget this place." The Reaver gave her a strange look and Rayne gave him a sad smile in return. "They play hide and seek with her. It won't be long, now." She paused in thought for a second. "Hurt Rayne or the others will know."

With no words, the Reaver moved his lips over her face, before he gave her a good punch to the jaw. It wasn't enough to make her go down, but Rayne knew it would leave a bruise and that was enough; she let her body fall to the ground.

March 26, 2551

Sihnon

She felt them before they got there. She felt them coming when she woke up and she felt them during her movement training and she felt them when they put her in the chair. She really felt them as she dreamed on monsters and death.

The one who had come to get her had a smooth voice. He was the one that knew he would never get into Heaven. He was the one with no name, just a word to go by. Operative. He was speaking to Dr. Lemm.

"And the reason she was picked?"

Dr. Lemm sounded rather pleased with himself as he spoke. "Her IQ is actually higher then R. Tam's. Choosing the right child was somewhat a chore. Jayne Cobb Junior's IQ is thirty points lower then R. Tam's and he was only in the genius range of the scale. Matthew Cobb has the same IQ has R. Tam. But, R. Cobb…she's…genius doesn't seem to be the right word. R. Cobb is conditioned for combat and she is a creature of extraordinary grace. She-"

"And the side effects?" The man with no name cut in.

"Well, she's unstable, mood swings. It's the neural stripping that gives her a heightened cognitive reception, but it also destabilizes her own reality matrix." He chuckled nervous. "She can't even remember who she is some days. And she's stopped using 'I' and 'Me' sometime ago. Basically, she has borderline schizophrenia, at the moment." Dr. Lemm paused again. "There are other things, not side effects. She…she seems to have a connection to Reavers and she…she says she sees the dead, talks to them. We don't think she actually sees dead people, that's just silly. But, we believe she may actually use more of her brain then everyone else, even with our surgeries on her."

"I see."

That was the last thing Rayne heard before the thudding and the gasping. She began to smell blood and then-

"This is a good and noble death." That was followed by the sound of a sword going into flesh and gasps.

Before Rayne could start to wonder, the needles were out of her skull and someone was touching her and moving her out of the chair. "Rayne Cobb? Rayne?" She slowly opened her eyes and found herself staring at a handsome and older man. "You're alright, now."

"You don't have a name. Operative, that's what you were." She told him. "You tried to kill Shepard Book."

He gave her a sad smile. "My sins can never be undone. But, perhaps I can make some repairs to my soul." He helped Rayne stand up and he took her hand. Before Rayne could protest, he was walking her to the door. "My men are waiting, we'll use the escape that I've planned."

Once out the door, the man who was once an Operative led Rayne to a tiny shaft and opened it up. He went through first and then pulled Rayne in after him.

As they began going up and to the waiting ship, he spoke to her: "You're wondering why they haven't come." He didn't ask it, he just stated it, like a fact. "They don't know you're gone and they won't for some time."

Rayne looked up at him. "He plays hide and seek with her and now the game is over and he has won. His prize is a tiny piece of forgiveness from a dead preacher."

The man with no name took solace in that and he did not ask her how she spoke to a dead man; he already knew.

Sometime later, though Rayne was not sure how much time, Rayne was given a pretty and clean white sundress to wear. The woman, who had too many names for Rayne to remember, combed Rayne's hair and told her a funny story about trash. Then, the man who was once an Operative came to take her to the ship's cargo bay.

He led her to the cryo-coffin and had her look it over as he explained the rest of his plan. "It's much to dangerous to put you in cryo. However, a cryo-coffin will work."

"A cryo-coffin keeps the corpse cold and fresh so it can be shipped from one end of the 'verse to the other." Rayne filled in for him. "It works much better then simple fluids and it has been known to preserve the body for years, much like mummification."

He looked down at her and smiled. "That is correct, Rayne." He gave her an awkward pat on the head. "And we are going to put you to sleep, put you in the cryo-coffin, and bring you home to Shadow and Serenity Ranch."

She gave him an anxious look. "Don't put me to sleep, don't put me in death's jewelry box." She urgently tugged on the sleeve of his shirt. "Her Reaver will come, he loves like a man, but he isn't one."

He shushed her with a comforting look. "You'll sleep and you won't dream, I promise. And when you awake, your parents and brothers will be there to see you. They'll take care of you again."

Rayne felt the tears begin to stream down her face even as she nodded and held out an arm for him. He took the needle out of the bag that had been sitting on the ground and gave her the shot. Before Rayne could ask him anything else, her eyes shut and she fell down into his arms. The man with no name lifted her up and gently placed her in the cryo-coffin. He lovingly folded her arms over her chest and shut it up; setting the buttons to open in a month's time.

"Saff?" He called over the ship's intercom. "Get us to Badger's." He glanced down at the closed coffin. "We have a little lost girl to ship home."

Inside her coffin, which was not her coffin, Rayne dreamed…she dreamed of a Reaver and all the Reavers in the 'verse and a ranch and a family that laughed at a large table in an old dinning room of the ranch house. She had nightmares and dreams of everything that was real and forgotten and some things that were not real and could never be forgotten.