Finale at the Beginning
Epilogue 1
By PaBurke (faithburke)
Crossover: Supernatural & Firefly
600+ Words
*
The shepherd known as Derrial Book had rarely experienced fear without reason. He set his eyes on the knives -the Captain had tugged out of his belt and placed by the stove- and shivered.
Where in the 'verse had Mal acquired those knives?
"I took them from River," Mal said.
Book blinked. Surely he hadn't spoken aloud without realizing it.
"You looked startled," Mal offered with a hint of gloating.
"Where did the child find those?"
"I don't know where she got the first one, but Ruby had the other."
"Ruby?" The name brought back memories of the tempter of souls. That was how Book had come to think of the woman who had recruited him –and many of his classmates- into the most secret service of the Alliance. As much as he didn't want to consider being in the same part of the universe as the… woman, he couldn't imagine the odds of another woman named Ruby having possession of the powerful knife. "She let you have the Winter Knives?"
"She was dead when River picked it up." The captain seemed to shake some impossible memory and Book wondered who would tell him the rest of the story.
First things first. "Are you sure that's she's dead?" A ridiculous question to ask a soldier, but Mal didn't look insulted. He looked like a man who had seen black eyes.
Black eyes had flashed in the instructor's face while she (Ruby) had been showing them how to find and exorcise the demon possessed. The Operatives had thought that the Alliance was rightfully not telling its citizens about demons. That only the most loyal operatives should be the ones tasked with saving the 'Verse. They had never realized that the demons had been leading the class, that the demons had been playing along. They –the humans- had been pawns of the demons they had thought they were being trained to defeat.
No one else had been looking at the favorite instructor when the word 'Christo' had been called out. They had been engrossed in the procedure, in the spectacle. Book had tried to warn his classmates. Ruby had tried to convince him otherwise. She said that some Operatives couldn't handle the knowledge and that they would start seeing demons everywhere. Book had known what he had seen.
He had run.
"How well acquainted are you with Ruby?" Derrial asked. He had always believed that Mal was beyond the temptations of the demon, but how many other good men had been twisted by her?
"Not well," Mal said. He wasn't lying and Book was pleased. "I've seen too much of someone calling herself Ruby of late."
"But she is dead?" confirmed Book.
"As dead as I kin tell," Mal replied. "She made an awful sound and her knife turned on her. The black smoke screamed when pierced by the knife."
"Good."
"Shepherd, you aim to be telling me what happened?"
Book smiled and relaxed. "You were there, Mal. I wasn't. It's been years since I saw one of those knives. I would have destroyed it, or sent it to an abbey if I had known that a Win'ter knife was aboard." His instinct would have been to destroy it, but that would have been the orders from Ruby if an Operative had managed to obtain the artifact. He was glad that the job was done.
"Captain!" Wash was yelling. "Captain!"
"What is it, Wash?" Mal yelled.
Wash appeared in the doorway, bright and flushed. "We're having babies," he announced.
Mal set down his tea and followed the pilot, swearing in Chinese. The conversation was over for now.
*