Pursued - Part VII
Sunday, May 21, 2006
A Sequel to my "Forward Motion" series, post-BDM. Also references my "Family Dynamics" series, archived on this site. --- River gets in over her head while trying to save her family and Simon, Jayne, Inara, Mal, Zoe and Kaylee fear the worst.
CATEGORY: FICTION TIMES READ: 2862 RATING: 9.0 (G) SERIES: FIREFLY
A/N: This one is a little shorter, because I like me some cliff-hangers ....
Many thanks must again go to Leiasky, as she has stuck with this story and made it better when I couldn't edit it anymore. You rock, my friend!
***
The shuttle was already in the air by the time Inara reached Mal on the comm.
“What’s going on,” he asked quickly, studying her worried gaze.
Inara didn’t spare him a glance as she eased the shuttle forward at full speed. “River’s gone. She’s already back at the Academy.”
Mal uttered a string of Chinese curse words, many Inara had never heard before. Ignoring his tirade, she said, “You need to meet us there. Simon won’t be able to get to her himself.”
Mal nodded once and bit back the urge to tell Inara to stay strong. He bit back the even greater urge to confess his love for the woman – now was not the time. “We got a lock on you now. We’ll be there.”
“And Mal.” Inara’s strained tone pulled him back. When she did finally meet his gaze, he felt his heart stop. “Hurry.”
***
By the time Gabriel Tam returned home the last two days seemed a dream. If he wasn’t painfully aware of the bruise forming on his jaw from his son’s punch, he would have been thoroughly convinced that the past forty-eight hours had been lived by someone else.
But with frightful reality, Gabriel knew he was the cause for the dread that now lived in his heart. He had allowed his daughter, his beautiful River, to walk directly into the hands of the men who had tried to destroy her before. And what was worse, he had barely even asked her any questions, barely even put up a fight. Simon was right to hate him, he had been a coward.
Sighing heavily, Gabriel slowly trudged up the ornate staircase that wound through the center of the estate and headed for his wife’s room. He had not seen her for a few days, a particularly violent round of treatment had kept her sleeping for a majority of that time, but he needed to see her now. He needed to tell her what a fool he’d been
River fighting Jin was real well done but that damn hundan got her in the end. Poor girl, not able to control the raging emotions around her and fight Jin at the same time.
Simon's plea to Jayne to make sure he got his sister out was just so sad. Not caring at all for himself which is completely in keeping with how he behaved in the show.
Of course, I love chapters left on cliffhangers....
Fantastic chapter, as always. If River really is dead though, I say Simon and Mal should just firebomb the place.
I can't wait for the next bit.
You can't take the sky from me
I say this with utter certainty... Actually, how about:
River is not 'permanently' dead?
Brilliant chapter! Eagerly awaiting next post.
He had lost his children and his wife all in one day. With a wail that echoed off the cold walls, Gabriel threw himself down on this wife’s lifeless form and cried.
And the children lining up to defensd the Academy gave a fleeting image of that old movie "Village of the Damned", very chilling! Poor River, she better not be dead! I hope Jin comes to a very unfortunate end. Simon feeling the loss of River and his last words make me very anxious! Please post soon! Great Job!
Still...River's gotta do a Neo and lay the smackdown on Jin ASAP, before helping the rest of the BDHs assault the Academy;)
BEB
Though he was a bastard, I feel bad for Gabriel. I can only begin to imagine what that would feel like.
Oooohhh, this looks like it will be fun:
*It was just one big experiment and there was no reason for any of them to get their hands dirty while their pupils did the work.
*
Simon's words at the very end = terrifying, at least for me.
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