Some Truths
Harry was standing alone in the midst of a thick fog that his eyes could not penetrate through. Incoherent and malevolent voices were brushing past his ears sending bolts of fear down his spine.
He couldn't breathe.
The fog was turning red and wrapping itself around his body.
He couldn't move. He couldn't scream.
"It was your fault," the voices whispered and the fog exploded, sending Harry falling onto a pile of decomposing bodies. The stench of decaying flesh made him retch and then he recognized the faces he was standing upon. They were his friends from the past and they were all staring at him accusingly.
A green flash of lightening struck him on his chest and Harry was finally let out that blood curdling scream when a blackened heart appeared in his hands. It was his heart and there was gaping hole in the centre of his chest. His screams of terror grew louder and hysterical when his horribly disfigured friends began to drag his body into the Earth.
Harry woke up with a scream lodged in his throat. He was drenched in sweat and his heart rate was beyond abnormal.
He couldn't remember what he was dreaming about.
He was trembling violently and it was hard to breathe. He tried to get out of the bed but he couldn't do it. His legs felt like jelly and there was a healthy amount of fear coursing through him. He clenched his eyes shut and slowly counted to ten. "1," he said, his voice shaking. "2… 3… 4… 5…," and by the time he reached ten he had stopped shivering and his breathing was back to normal. But the remnants of the fear he felt was still running wild in his body.
Harry sighed heavily and removed his shirt and threw it in the corner of the room. Fourteen days since the Miranda episode; Six day's since the funeral for Wash, Mr Universe and Shepherd Book; four nights of lousy nightmares which he never had any recollection of.
"Damn," he grumbled putting on a new shirt. All the new clothes in his cupboard, he had taken from Mr. Universe's vast and odd wardrobe since he had none. He dragged himself to the galley to fill his stomach with something. He always felt queasy after a nightmare and this time it felt worse.
"Why this was happening to him now?" he thought as he poured himself a glass of milk. He had heard about this from Moody - about how people who fought in wars suffered from night terrors and sleep deprivation. Miranda didn't count as a war when compared to the one back on Earth. He had gone through worse back then and yet when unsealed he never had any nightmares to deal with except for the few memory flashes whenever he saw chains hanging above him. But he had gotten over that quick enough.
Maybe it was just catching up to him now, he mused. The horrible events of last week probably opened a floodgate that shouldn't have been opened.
Harry emptied the contents of the glass in one go and felt better at once. Warm milk had a wonderful effect on him he discovered.
"A little early to be waking up isn't it?"
Harry nearly jumped out of his skin and tried to pull out a nonexistent wand. "Zoe," he breathed, clutching his chest. "You almost made my heart fail."
"Well, glad to know I still have that effect on men," she replied with a smile. "Couldn't sleep?"
Harry shook his head, "What about you?"
"Had to check the navsat," she said nonchalantly but Harry knew better. "Go back to bed," she said and went up the stairs to the bridge.
Harry looked at her sympathetically before going back to his own room. Maybe it was possible to get a few hours of sleep he thought hopefully.
On his way back he heard noises coming from the doctor's room. "Looks like someone's having a good night," he thought with a grin.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
March, 2518
The next morning, which came a little too soon for Harry's taste and was ironic because it was completely black outside, Jayne was getting on Mal's nerves in a bad way.
"So," Jayne drawled, "Have we got a job yet?"
Mal glared at the man who wore a smug expression but Jayne just put his hands behind his head and leaned back.
Ever since the events that occurred a fortnight ago, getting a job had been difficult. Somehow it came to be known that Mal and his crew were responsible for the broad wave about Miranda and people across the rim had hailed them as heroes. But people like Badger felt that they were no longer capable of flying under the radar and contracting them for a job would simply attract too much attention.
"Being heroes without any money is a bitch ain't it?" Jayne mocked.
Mal didn't react to that and instead he put his foot under Jayne's chair and tipped it slightly. Jayne was already leaning back on its back legs and he went crashing to the floor.
"Dammit Mal!"
Mal just smirked and watched in satisfaction as Jayne drew himself to his full height. He looked ready to murder someone but instead he just straightened out his shirt, picked up the chair and sat back down.
"It's just been two weeks," Mal said calmly. "Just give it some more time and we'll be back in business again."
"That maybe so but until then do you expect us to starve?"
"Mal!" Zoe yelled from the bridge.
"Yeah?"
"We got a wave from Fanty," she said excitedly, "And he's got a job for us."
"See?" Mal said triumphantly. "We got a job."
Mal and Jayne hurried up. Even though Mal wouldn't admit it, he too had been worried about the lack of offers and for a moment he was even considering sending a wave to Adelai Niska - the man who had killed him once and then brought him back to the life only to torture him more.
"Put it up," he said to Zoe.
Zoe had taken up the job of manning the cockpit since the death of her husband. After the funeral she hadn't spoken a word about him to anyone and had continued her life like nothing had ever happened but all of them could see how much pain she was in and there was nothing they could do about it. Simon had tried to get her to talk about it but found himself an inch away from her shotgun the next moment. "If anyone dares to mention Wash in front of me, they will be dodging bullets," she had literally snarled. No one dared to talk to Zoe about Wash after that.
"Fanty," Mal greeted, "I hear you got a job for us."
"Fortunate for you perhaps but not for us," Fanty replied. He hadn't forgotten what had happened the last time they had met each other.
"So what's this job?" Mal asked, getting straight to the point.
"We need you to find someone for us," he said. "We tried everyone else we knew but they were unsuccessful so we had to wave you as a… Um how do I put this…? A last resort," he said sneering.
Mal raised his eyebrows. "I'm so touched," he mocked.
"But if you so much as do anything that remotely involves the Alliance you will never hear from us again, you got that?"
"Loud and clear Fanty, loud and clear," Mal said, doing his best to be as serious as possible but it wasn't working out very well.
"So the job?" Jayne prompted.
"He's a boy… goes by the name of Harry Potter and was last seen on Beaumonde. He disappeared a few weeks back and we were hoping that you could use your contacts to find him and get him to contact us."
All three blinked in shock. Did he just say Harry Potter?!
"What do you need him for?" Mal asked feigning ignorance.
"That's none of your business," Fanty retorted, "If you can find him you get paid and the sooner you do that the better you get paid."
"And how much would that be?"
"Fifty credits if you can do it in a week and anything beyond that it's twenty. Oh and that's provided we don't find him by ourselves," Fanty said seriously.
"Now that is quite unfair," Mal protested, "We have a name and nothing more and you're giving us as low as twenty! I say if we get this job done within the hour you pay us two hundred."
Behind him Jayne and Zoe were exchanging amused looks.
Fanty laughed. "Like that's going to happen. Are you overestimating your abilities Mal?" he mocked. "Within the hour," he scoffed and started laughing again. He then composed himself and looked at Mal's sombre face in amusement. "Alright, if you can find him in an hour's time I'll pay you two hundred but if you don't you get nothing more than twenty and trust me when I say that you people are going to find it very hard to get a job for quite some time after what you pulled off."
To Fanty's surprise, Mal smirked and gestured at Jayne to bring Harry up. "Well you best get that two hundred ready Mr. Businessman, cause the jobs done."
Zoe had a broad smile on her face now and Fanty on the other hand suddenly looked terribly confused.
"Harry Potter is on this ship right now," Mal said cheerfully. "So if you'd just hold on for a moment we can call him up here."
Said boy was busy playing cards with Simon and Inara and was winning handsomely.
"He's cheating," River said. She was observing the game with deep interest and was eager to try her hand at it.
"No I'm not," Harry shot back. "Name one rule that I've broken."
"I don't know," River said, looking frustrated. "But I know you're cheating."
Inara narrowed her eyes at Harry. "River see's into the truth of things," she said. "So if you're cheating that means you are definitely cheating."
Harry just smiled charmingly and put his cards down. "Both of you have repeatedly checked me and quite thoroughly I might add," he said. "So how am I cheating?"
Simon and Inara looked at River for answers but the girl just shrugged. "I can't read him but I can see him," she said.
"What does that mean?" Simon asked confused. "And how can you not read him?"
River just shrugged again and looked at Harry in frustration. "I'm going to find Kaylee," she muttered and slipped away.
"Why can't she read you?" Simon demanded.
"How am I supposed to know that," Harry lied.
"Harry." Inara said his name sweetly but her eyes were glittering dangerously. "You know what I do for a living don't you?"
"Yes?" Harry said cautiously.
She batted her eyelids at him and leaned forward. "You should know that I can spot a lie coming from a mile away and you're good but not that good."
Harry gulped. The perfume she was wearing was wafting up his nose and making him very dizzy.
"I'm allowed to keep secrets aren't I?" he said while reinforcing his occlumency shields to prevent the companion from using her feminine wiles, the most dangerous weapon of all.
After they left Mr. Universe's planet Harry had decided that he would tell them the truth about his abilities but he hadn't been able to find the right time and moment to do so. Also, riling up River had suddenly become fun for him. He found it hilarious when she found glared at him angrily and then stomped away when she couldn't read his mind.
He was saved from further interrogation when Jayne thundered down from the bridge and called for him.
"There's a wave for me?" Harry said, perplexed. "Nobody even knows I'm here!"
Jayne smirked. "They don't but we just got a job and the job was to find you."
Harry instantly went alert. "Who is it?"
"A jerk named Fanty," Jayne replied and Harry relaxed.
"Well why didn't you say so in the first place," he said and made his way to the bridge.
"You know the gorram hwoon dahn!" Jayne exclaimed.
"Sure I do," Harry said in a matter of fact tone. "You can't not know him and his twin and be successful on Beaumonde."
He entered the bridge and Mal happily escorted Harry to the screen.
"I believe you owe us two hundred credits?" Mal said, thoroughly enjoying himself.
Fanty just looked at the captain with disdain. "May we have some privacy," he said sourly.
Mal glanced at Harry who nodded and he, Zoe and Jayne left but then quickly hurried to Mal's room to spy on Harry's conversation.
"What's the emergency?" Harry asked, settling into the chair once they had left.
"First things first," Fanty said and he looked irritated. "You remember when you told you to keep your nose out of the Alliance business?"
"Yeah?"
"Well congratulations, you successfully grabbed their attention and there's a bounty on your head now."
"What!"
"You heard me," Fanty snapped. "And I'm willing to bet my entire fortune that it was because you ended up on that gorram boat!"
"Why is there a bounty on my head?" Harry asked instead, letting the truth in Fanty's words fly over his head.
"Don't know," Fanty replied, "But if you're on that ship that means you got caught up with that Miranda business. They were already interested in you and now you've given them a reason to go after you."
Harry sighed, looks like he would have to keep his guard up now. "Well what's done is done. Is that why you were looking for me?"
"No, but I thought it would be nice to give you a little heads up," he said sarcastically.
"I didn't put myself in this situation you know," Harry defended. "I accidentally ended up here."
"Terrible luck that crew is I tell you," Fanty grumbled.
"Anyway… Why did you want to find me, if it wasn't to warn me?" Harry asked again.
"We found something on that list you gave us. Something that you've marked as important."
Harry's heart skipped a beat. "What did you find?"
"You're going to have to pay Mal the two hundred I now owe him and another five hundred for the information," Fanty said.
"Five hundred?" Harry said narrowing his eyes. "Now you know that wasn't the agreement."
"Coming across this piece of information took a lot more resources than we expected and when I say a lot more, I mean a lot more," the underworld dealer explained. "And plus you know that five hundred is peanuts to you. Most of that payment will go to the grunts who gather the information for me."
Harry rolled his eyes. "Fine, fine," he grumbled. "Now tell me what you know."
"It was extremely difficult and when I say difficult I hope you understand how difficult," Fanty began.
"I get it Fanty," Harry interrupted exasperatedly. "Now stop dilly-dallying and get to the point!"
"Fine. I was just trying to get the point across so to speak."
"Well congratulations, you got it across," Harry said impatiently.
"After months of inquiring and gathering information on almost all the planets in the verse, we heard of some strange happenings on Sihnon. Apparently there are some places where tech is said to malfunction for no reason at all. Stuff just goes haywire out of the blue and shit blows up too. Locals call it the wrath of the gods, but you should bear in mind that these are just rumours because further investigation showed no signs of anything amiss and everything works perfectly fine."
"How many such reports were made?" Harry asked eagerly. Further investigation showed nothing amiss could mean that the people had their memories wiped, he thought enthusiastically.
"Maybe around a dozen a decade ago and most of them were on Xi'an," he said and he emphasized on the word decade. He had no idea why Harry was looking for such places and what he believed to find there.
"Did you find anything else on the list?"
Fanty shook his head and Harry sighed in disappointment.
"Thanks Fanty, I'll send you a wave as soon as I get to Beaumonde," he said. "Tell Mingo I said hi."
"We look forward to a game when you get here," Fanty said. "We've got some new tricks to beat you this time."
Harry smirked. "So have I," he said and turned the screen off. He now had a new destination, the Alliance dominated planet of Sihnon. He now had a clue to the fate of magic and there could be a chance that the magical world survived after all.
He went back down and found himself face to face with the entire crew. I should have known they wouldn't give me any privacy, Harry thought irritably.
"An explanation at this point will be very helpful," Mal said coldly.
"Eavesdropping is bad manners," Harry retorted.
"What did you have Fanty looking for?" Zoe asked, not beating around the bush.
"Family," Harry said immediately. "Is that wrong?"
"I thought your family was dead."
"I consider my friends my family and I told you I don't know what happened to them. When I left at Beaumonde I got to know Fanty and Mingo and asked them to get some information for me."
"And somehow you think that your friends will be at places where electronics malfunction?" Kaylee asked, bemused. "How does that work?"
"And where are you going to get seven hundred credits from!" Zoe asked. They had been shocked when Harry didn't even protest much about the cost of the information.
"Yeah... seven hundred credits! Where are you going to manage that from?" Mal parroted.
"Did you think I was wasting my time on Beaumonde? I got filthy rich," Harry said rolling his eyes.
Everyone stared at him dumbfounded.
"How rich?" Jayne asked. His mouth was open and Harry could see the greed lurking beneath his eyes.
"It doesn't matter," Harry said with a tone of finality. "All that matters is we get to Beaumonde and then you get paid."
"And then what?" Zoe asked. "You stay on the planet or do you want to continue your journey with us?"
"Actually I was hoping you could find a way to get me to Sihnon," Harry said carefully.
"Well it's going to cost you," was the first thing Jayne said. "And now that we know you're loading, it's going to cost you a lot."
Harry narrowed his eyes at the big man. "Is that how this is going to be?" he asked his temper rising. "I fight alongside you knowing the chance of death was very high and now you guys are interrogating me? Again! A favour is going to cost me?!"
"That was Jayne talking, not us," Mal said calmly. "But you have to admit there are many things you've been hiding from us and we haven't bothered to force any answers out of you."
"Well of course," Harry burst out. "I wasn't even supposed to be here in the first place! Did you think I would spill my guts the moment I got on your ship eh?" Harry said sneering.
What was at first a humorous situation was slowly turning ugly by the second.
"What was the bit about there being a bounty on you?" Simon asked speaking up for the first time. "Why is the Alliance after you?"
"Yes!" Mal cried. "That's the bit that worried us the most. Now we didn't have a problem with anything else but why is there a bounty on your head!"
"There is a bounty on my head," Harry growled, "Because I decided to help you morons fight them. So as a matter of fact, it's your fault there's a bounty on my head."
"Our fault?" Mal said incredulously. "I didn't force you to help us and obviously you did something before for them to put a bounty on you now. You don't see a bounty on our heads do you!"
"River has one," Harry snapped.
"What did you do to piss of the Alliance?" Zoe asked and soon everyone was yelling questions at each other without finding any answers to them.
Nobody noticed River getting all worked by when the argument started. Everyone had so many questions and so much suspicion and anger and she was feeling it all. She tried to not let it overwhelm her but it was suddenly too much. "Will you all just shut up!" she screamed, clamping her ears and her eyes got damp. "It's loud enough as it is!" And then she ran out of the room shouting gibberish at the top of her lungs.
"River," Simon muttered worriedly and hurried after her.
Harry took a deep breath and calmed himself. "Why don't we all just sit down and I'll answer some of your questions," he said. "And let's not make it like I'm the criminal here."
"Well no one's saying that!" Zoe said.
"It's you guys who are the criminals," muttered Harry under his breath.
"Now just look here a minute," Mal began hotly but Zoe shut him up.
"What does the Alliance what with you?" Zoe asked.
"They want to know how I am so good at gambling," Harry said. "I made a fortune on Beaumonde by sucking my opponents dry."
"Because of your foolproof cheating?" Inara said accusingly.
Harry rolled his eyes and then said, "Yes."
"I knew it!" she cried. "There's no way anyone can be that lucky at cards! How do you do it?" she asked eagerly.
This was it, Harry thought, the moment that he had been waiting for. Now that it was here, he was having second thoughts about telling them the truth. Revealing half the truth was an option too. He didn't want to overwhelm them with things far beyond their understanding too fast and he didn't know if he was still ready to reveal everything about him. He didn't know why he felt this way it was just the way it was.
"Well?" Mal asked curiously.
"Take a seat and maybe you should get River and Simon. What I have to say might make River understand why she can't read me," he said, finally making up his mind. Half truth's it was going to be. He wasn't ready to tell them everything.
Kaylee hurried out and brought back the doctor and his sister. She found them in the engine room and tried not to smile when she saw River sulking and ignoring Simon's attempts to get her attention.
"Simon… River… Harry asked me to bring you guys up, he's gonna tell us some of his secrets," she said enthusiastically.
River snapped her head towards Kaylee and she then scarpered to the kitchen.
"You okay Simon?" Kaylee asked, giggling.
Simon nodded wearily and together they hurried to the kitchen, eager to hear what secrets Harry had to tell them. What sort of explanation could make the contradiction that he was make sense?
"Well why don't you ask me some questions you have and I'll answer them," Harry said.
"Where are you from?" Zoe asked immediately.
Harry shook his head. "I can't answer that just yet, but I will in time."
Zoe harrumphed. "I thought you were going to be honest with us?"
"I am," Harry said earnestly, "but there are some things you just won't understand."
Zoe wanted to protest but Mal stopped her. "How 'bout you tell us why River can't get a read on you then," he asked.
This was it… the moment of truth.
"She can't read me," he said carefully, "Because I am something of a reader myself."
Stunned silence greeted him. Even River was staring at him in shock.
"W-what?" Simon stammered. Did he just hear that right?
"My ability is slightly different from River's though," he said, trying not to laugh at the look on everybody's faces. "I can read minds and block other people from reading my own but unlike River, I can't see into the truth of things. River's ability somehow extends to inanimate objects but mine is limited to the human mind."
"You can read minds?" Inara breathed, a little more than just shocked.
"That's what I just said," he said warily.
"And that's why you're so good at gambling!" Kaylee exclaimed.
Harry nodded sheepishly.
"You can read minds!" Jayne gasped. "Have you been reading ours?!"
"No!" Harry denied immediately. "I wouldn't violate someone's privacy like that."
"Except when you're gambling," Kaylee said dryly.
"That's right," Harry agreed. "There are no morals when it comes to gambling."
"Hold on a second," Mal interrupted. "You can read minds?"
"Yes!" Harry said exasperatedly.
"You're a reader?"
"Not exactly."
"Prove it," River said. Her eyes were still wide and Harry could see a whirlwind of emotions swirling behind her eyes.
Harry sighed. "Don't go too deep or I might have to forcefully boot you out," he warned.
"Hold on a second!" Simon said raising his voice. "What are you going to do?"
"I'm lowering my mind shields so that River can finally acknowledge me as a human and give you guys proof that I'm not lying," he said coolly. He then turned to Mal for permission.
Mal just gestured at him to go ahead. The crew was still in a state of partial shock.
The young wizard took a deep breath and took down the defences around his mind and the reaction that followed was instantaneous.
River gasped loudly and stumbled back. Harry winced as he felt the force behind her intrusion and let her rummage for a few moments while keeping his most important secrets locked deep in his mind.
"Oh," River whispered and then Harry gently but firmly pushed her out of his mind.
"I wasn't done," she said scowling but she was now looking at Harry in a new light. "Can you teach me how to control it?"
Harry shrugged, "I don't know," he said. "I was taught in a very different way and I doubt I could do the same for you."
"Hold on, someone taught you?" Zoe exclaimed and Harry cursed himself for his little slip.
"Yes," he said in a resigned tone. "Where I come from there are many people who are capable of doing this."
"Why do I get the feeling there is more to this ability of yours than you're letting on," she said suspiciously.
"Because there is," he said curtly. "Explaining it would take too much time on my part and I'm quite sure you wouldn't believe me."
"Try us," Mal retorted.
Harry sighed. Now how was he to explain this, he wondered and then he decided to let them figure it out. "What River can do and what I can do, it's something like magic is it not?" he asked them nonchalantly.
"Well...," Kaylee began and then she jumped up as realization about what Harry was trying to say hit home. "Are you saying you're a magician!" she said in amazement.
"No, I'm saying I'm a wizard."
There, he had said. Harry made sure to keep his emotion firmly under control.
Jaws dropped and Harry began to count.
He reached fifteen when Jayne exploded. "You're saying you can do magic! What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"It means I can do magic," Harry deadpanned. "I can levitate things, turn you into a toad, hurl powerful curses around, turn invisible, the whole nine yards."
"Prove it," River demanded again, her eyes had lost a bit of the hostility she usually reserved for Harry and now she was eyeing Harry like a piece of meat that was to be dissected. Frankly it made Harry feel more wary of the girl.
"I can't," he said. "I need a wand."
Mal scoffed, clearly not believing Harry.
"It's what I had Fanty and Mingo looking for," he explained patiently. "My kind of people are very good at hiding themselves and I need their help if I have to find them."
"What does malfunctioning technology have to do with that?" Zoe asked confused.
"Large amounts of magic and electronics don't work well together," Harry said. "It's a long shot but I believe that there could be a magical society on Sihnon."
"Makes sense," River said thoughtfully. "Sihnon has always been associated with a lot of mystical tales and the city itself is described as a magical one."
"That's just because of its beauty," Inara countered. "But it's true; Sihnon does have a lot of fairy tales in its long history. One of the most popular local legends says that Lu'Weng, the capital of Sihnon, was once a fire-breathing dragon that fell from the sky and was bound to the planet with ribbons."
"Dragons?!" Harry exclaimed.
"That's right," Inara said, smiling as she recalled growing up on Sihnon.
Harry eyes gleamed with excitement.
"Dragons aren't real," Simon scoffed.
"Oh yes they are," Harry said looking positively radiant. "Looks like Sihnon is definitely going to be my next destination."
"You don't actually believe all this do you?" Jayne shouted. "It's just a bunch of gorram nonsense! I'll bet you're an escapee from a loony bin and that's why the Alliance wants you back."
Harry rolled his eyes. "Do you want me to demonstrate a little of my powers?"
"I thought you needed a, what's it called, a wand to do magic," Mal mocked.
"Not for mind magic," Harry retorted.
"Well then… please… demonstrate," Zoe said immediately.
"Wasn't River proof enough though?"
Everyone turned towards the reader.
River scowled when everyone looked at her. She didn't like it when there was so much attention on her and she glared at Harry.
"River?" Simon said gently.
"He does have some sort of wall protecting his mind," she said slowly. "When he removed them I could read his mind and I saw Denise."
Everyone nodded and then their minds processed her words.
"Wait what? Who's Denise?"
"Is she the one who slept with you and then robbed you?!" Kaylee asked, delighted. She made the connection the quickest.
"You saw that memory of all things?! How do you even know her name?" Harry asked, feeling an incredible amount of amazement and shock at River's knowledge about the girl with no name!
"Simon had a crush on her when he was seventeen," she said with a small smile. "She used to make him do her homework all the time."
Everyone began to start asking questions at the same time and Kaylee began to laugh out loud. She was the only one who knew the story.
"What was her name again?!" she asked River between laughs.
"Denise," River said, now smiling. "She was nice to me but she was always fighting with her family."
"I thought she was from Londinum?" Harry said, confused.
"She moved to Osiris when she was twelve and she ran away when she was fifteen," River said. "Simon was crushed," she added mischievously.
"Will someone please explain to me what's going on here?" Simon shouted. "River?"
"No don't!" Harry shouted back. Why the hell did River have to pull out that memory of all things! "And how could you possibly remember all this? You would have been seven at that time!"
River gave him a look.
"Yeah… prodigy… got it," he grumbled.
"Are we still believing this psycho's story?!" Jayne interrupted rudely. "One crazy confirming another crazy's story don't make it true. It just makes it insane."
Mal sighed. Why he couldn't have a normal crew was beyond him. Now he had a trigger happy giant, an unstable killer girl, a magician and an overprotective doctor! Not to mention a hyperactive mechanic, a short tempered first mate and a stuck up companion.
"Why don't we all calm down," Zoe said wisely and everyone slowly settled down, but were still burning to ask their respective questions. "Now River confirmed that Harry does have something like a shield in his mind but can you do anything apart from blocking out River," she asked. "From what you said it sounded like there's more you can do."
Harry nodded hesitantly.
"Well then show us," Mal said.
Harry sighed again. He seemed to be doing that a lot these days. He closed his eyes and focused.
"Mal is thinking about my usefulness to the crew. Zoe is wondering if I can kill people with my mind. Kaylee's wondering what amazing tricks I can do if I had a wand." Harry stopped and looked at Jayne with annoyance. "Jayne however wants to throw me off the ship and River is thinking… argh!" The moment he tried to read River's mind, he was hit by a turbulent force unlike anything he had ever experienced. It was her memories and Harry looked at her in understanding. He now knew why her abilities were so painful for her.
"What happened?!" Simon asked, alarmed.
"Can we hurl him into space?" Jayne deadpanned.
"What happened when you tried to read River's mind?!"
Harry closed his eyes and used his occlumency to push aside that feeling of being in River's mind. "Her mind is terribly unstable," Harry said slowly after a moment. "It's a wonder she's able to talk coherently with the way her memories are swirling around. And it's not just her memories; all your thoughts are in her mind too. If you want to help her, I think you all should learn to be calm when River is around," he said, looking only at River. She stared back emotionlessly.
"Is this true River?" Simon asked softly.
River nodded. "I've learnt to deal with it," she said and Simon looked at her with anguish. He cursed his inability to help her and resolved to make sure no one acted foolishly in River's presence.
"What else can you do?" Zoe asked in interest. Pity for River was put aside in favour of answers from Harry.
"Can I get a volunteer?"
"I'll do it!" Kaylee said immediately.
"Kaylee," Simon began in disapproval but Kaylee just waved him away. "It's alright Simon," she said earnestly. "Harry wouldn't hurt me."
Harry looked around to see if anyone else had a problem except for Jayne.
"Go on," Mal encouraged, looking on curiously.
"Don't panic," he warned Kaylee. He looked into her eyes and then whispered, "Legilimens."
Everybody watched in anticipation as all emotion was wiped clean from the mechanics face. She then walked to the table and leaped onto it and began to spin on her foot like a ballerina with her arms above her head!
Mal turned to Harry incredulously, "Are you making her to that?!"
But Harry didn't respond and they noticed he too was not all there.
Suddenly Kaylee stumbled and Harry's head jerked up, life returning to his eyes.
"That was terrifying!" Kaylee gasped as she stumbled down from the table and collapsed into a chair feeling dizzy.
"Are you alright?" Simon asked in concern.
"Yea, yea," Kaylee said breathing heavily. "Wow, I mean wow!"
"What was that?" Zoe asked frowning.
"I took control of her mind."
"It was like I was pushed into one corner of my mind and I didn't have any control over anything!" Kaylee exclaimed. "I almost had a panic attack."
"This is probably why the Alliance has put a bounty on my head," Harry admitted.
"Have you ever used this talent of yours on us?" Mal asked quietly. His body was relaxed but his eyes betrayed the shock he was experiencing. Was he really supposed to believe this?
"No," said Harry firmly. "Just on Alliance soldiers."
"When?" Jayne growled hostilely.
"On Haven when they attacked us and when we went to see Mr. Universe. Someone must have spotted me controlling them and reported it to the higher ups."
"No shit," Mal deadpanned. "You could have helped us out then you know. That gorram operative almost killed me!"
Harry bristled. "Might I remind you that you all left me on the ship to fend off more than a dozen Alliance soldiers and not to mention the Reavers!"
"Oh," Mal said remembering the sequence of events and an image of Wash flashed in his mind. "Sorry about that."
Silence befell the crew.
"So what now?" Harry asked after some time.
"I don't know," Mal said. "All this is still sinking in. Magic, mind control, wizards, it's insane."
Harry smiled grimly. They still didn't know the whole truth and he tried to imagine their reaction then.
"Will you help me?" he asked hopefully.
Mal sighed and glanced at Zoe and then after a few seconds she gave the barest of nods. "Let's get to Beaumonde and meet up with Fanty and Mingo," he said finally. "After that we'll see where we go next. I think all of us need a day to process what we've learned. I still feel like I'm dreaming and you're just a figment of my imagination."
Inara quietly sneaked behind Mal and pinched him hard.
"Ouch!" he yelped rubbing his neck. "What the hell was that for?!"
"It's not a dream then," Inara said smugly. "And of course we'd be happy to help you Harry," she said warmly. "Mal's self obsessed mind just needs more time than the rest of us to say yes."
Harry grinned, a feeling of happiness bubbling inside him. A part of him had been worried about being rejected by them.
"I am not self obsessed and I was going to say yes anyway!" he said hotly.
His anger faltered when he saw Inara's sly smile and then realization hit him like a ton of bricks.
"I just got manipulated by a doxy didn't I?"
Inara knocked the wind out of him, with a well placed kick between his legs.
"Gorram bitch!"
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A/N - Drop a review, love to read them!