Addicted

Chapter 6: A Past Unforgotten. (PT. 2)

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: If I said I owned them, I lied. WARNING: This is pre-Serenity, so there's some mention of Miranda.

River was lying on the balcony. Nivia looked around the hold, but couldn't see her. She stood there, listening for River to move. "What'cha doin, Niv?" Kaylee asked. Nivia turned to her, and put her finger over her mouth, signaling for her to be quiet. She quietly walked up the stairs and smiled.

"You found River." River said with a smile. She sat up. Nivia sat down in front of her. "What's up, darling?" River smiled a confused smile. "The Captain is happy. It's strange." Nivia laughed.

"How's the rest of the crew?"

"Well, last night I heard Zoe thinking about children."

"Uhh.. okay. River, can you control what you hear, or do you hear everything?"

"I hear everything. Some times it hurts. I hear all the feelings they feel, all the thoughts they think. And, sometimes I can even see what's gonna happen."

"How often does that happen?"

"Don't really know. Sometimes it's there, sometimes not. And, if it's there, I don't always know. There's always so much thought, so much I can hear and see. I get confused, because I don't always know who they're coming from. Like, right now, I can here Kaylee humming while she works. I can here Jayne thinking about his favorite gun. I think the Captain might be... singing? No, No. That's Wash." Nivia laughed at that.

"Okay, I'm gonna hum something in my head, and I want you to try and distinguish it from all the other thoughts you here." Nivia did what she was going to do. Suddenly, something changed in River's eyes. "Miranda." She said before launching herself at Nivia. Nivia pushed River over her and sprang up. "Simon!" She yelled. River through punches, and Nivia took a few of them, while throwing a few of her own. River kicked her in the gut, and Nivia sunk to the ground, then kicked River's feet out from under her. "Simon!" She screamed again.

Simon came running in, along with the rest of the crew. River sprang up from the ground and pushed Nivia against the wall. "River, Stop!" Simon yelled from below them. "River, what are you doing?" Nivia asked. "Don't hurt River!" River yelled at her, before she pulled her in the opposite direction, and through her over the railing, lwith what look like almost no effort at all.

Nivia hit the floor with a loud thud and cried out in pain. River sunk against the wall as Simon ran up to her. Pain incased Nivia's body. When she opened her eye's, Mal and the rest of the crew were standing over her. "Are you alright?"

"Ow." Was all Nivia could say, siting up slowly.

"Doctor?" He called up.

"Meet me in the infirmary." Simon instructed, carefully leading River to her room. Mal helped Nivia up and guided her to the infirmary.

"Really, I'm alright." She tried to convince him. "Remember when I got shot? This is nothing." She said, laughing, then wincing in pain. "I knew that girl was bad news."

"No, Mal, it wasn't her fault. The song I was humin', it must have triggered something."

"Song? What song?" Simon asked coming in.

"I don't even know. It was just some ol' folk tune. Why?"

"It might be something she remembers from the academy." Simon explained, beginning to screen her body for broken bones.

"Academy?" Nivia asked.

"River's a, well, shes a genius. She was taken from our family at a young age, taken to an Alliance academy, and was experimented on."

"In other words, they tortured her." Nivia inferred. Simon nodded.

"She doesn't know why, but she knows what she's done. She feels terrible."

"I'll talk to her before I leave." Nivia said, sitting up.

"Everything looks fine. Just don't do anything too strenuous." Simon said.

"You make sure that this never happens again, Doctor. Or else, I'll be forced to leave you and your sister behind the next time we're planet side. Dong ma?" Mal told him. Simon nodded.

"There's something going on inside her, Simon. I'll find out what it is." Nivia said to Simon before walking out.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Mal asked. She smiled.

"I'm fine. I'm gonna go find River, then I gotta get back to the house."

"When can I..." He trailed off.

"I'll come back tonight." She said before walking off. She found River down in the hold again. She as rocking back and forth, uttering, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. So sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry."

Nivia sat down in front of her. "River?"

"Sorry. Sorry. Sorry." She kept whispering.

"Darlin, I know you're sorry. I forgive you." River looked up at her.

"Forgive?" Almost like she had never heard the word.

"Of course I do. It wasn't your fault."

"My fault." River said to herself.

"No, River, it's okay. I don't blame you. I reckon people do things sometimes that they don't right mean to." River didn't say anything, but she had stopped rocking back and forth, and Nivia figured that that was a good thing.

"Look, I'll be back tonight. We can talk, but we don't have to. I'll see you tonight." And River watched her go.

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