Title: Hell Raising Rating: PG-13 for mild torture and violence Pairings: heavy on the M/I, by the nature of the 'verse, references to S/K, Z/W, Jayne/Vera Setting: 18ish years post-BDM Summary: “I just wish you would’ve killed the old bastard.” – Inara, War Stories. Eighteen years later, so does Mal. Set in the same 'verse as Pirate Children, but three years later. Author's Note: This one is darker than the first, but since in my heart I write fluff and family drama, it's probably fairly light compared to most "dark fics". Thank you to everyone who read Pirate Children. Anyone who wants to read this one and not the first should know, first that Wash is still alive but Book didn't survive the BDM. Also, they should know the new characters: Killian Cobb "Kacey" Washburn Leila Lee "Lolly" Tam Abram Derrial "Bubba" Reynolds Serra Alleyne "Mei-Mei" Reynolds and their tutor, Alistair "Ally" Caramia, who's been aboard since Serra was born.

Part 1

“Hey-hey! Amnon!” The postmaster looks up to see two fairly familiar faces, a tiny young girl and her teenaged brother, walking side-by-side, close enough to touch, heads bent conspiratorially. “Well, if it isn’t the Reynolds children, Trouble and More Trouble.” “Now, which of us do you think is More Trouble, Amnon? I know the easy answer is me, but Abe has that whole smart thing going on, which I think really tips the scales in his favor.” She’s shorter than the counter, so her brother lifts her up to sit on the edge, he himself leaning against it. “Oh, but pretty Miss Reynolds, you have a streak of mischief which has no equal. Are you two here to pick up Serenity’s post?” The girl grins beautifully at him. “Yup yup. Did I get anything shiny, Amnon?” “Well, there are several packages addressed to Miss Serra Reynolds. And about as many for Mr. Abram Reynolds. Do we have some recent birthdays?” “I turned fifteen a month ago,” Abram answers, signing for the crew. “Mei-Mei turned ten last week.” “Well, happy birthday to you both. Are you going to be able to carry all of these boxes?” “Brought something to carry them in,” Abe nods, holding up the box he carries in one hand. “Load ‘em up, Amnon.” The postmaster sets the packages and letters for all of Serenity’s crew in the box and passes it back to the children he’s watched grow from infancy. “How’s your father? Your pretty mama?" “They’re in a good spell, haven’t had to buy Mama a new tea pot in what? A month?” “You’re right, Mei-Mei, it has been a month. Now I’m worried…” Amnon laughs. “Troubles, be careful out there, you’re now in the possession of government post. Can I trust you to deliver it safely?” “Not a problem, Amnon. Alright, let’s go, Bubba. You can buy me an ice planet.” Abram lifts Serra down from the counter, then hefts the box of post onto his shoulder and nods to Amnon. “Anything else you need to pick up, Runt?” “Nah,” the girl shakes her head, glancing up at her brother. He towers over her now: he’s hit a huge growth spurt, almost as tall as Daddy, and she is still short for her age. His limbs are long, his shoulders broad, and his voice dropped, but his smile remains charming and boyish. “Just an ice planet. You?” “I’m fine. I sent my list with Kacey. He and Lolly are on grocery duty.” “Abe!” a voice behind them calls. They turn to see Uncle Wash and Aunt Kaylee pushing a cart full of parts and approaching them. “Is that our post?” “Sure is, Uncle Wash. Most of it’s for us, though. Birthday stuff,” Mei-Mei grins. “But there’s some post for the rest of you,” Abe assures them. “Didya get good stuff?” the little one asks, glancing into the high-sided cart. “Just the usual replacements,” Kaylee grins, ruffling Serra’s wild curls. “Dump that box in ‘ere and walk back with us.” “Still have to make our ice planet run,” Abe says, dropping the box into the cart. “We’ll be there in a few minutes.” “Alright. Be quick, and be careful, you two. I don’t want pieces of you coming back, only whole people.” “Okay, Uncle Wash!” Serra calls, giggling and skipping off with Abram in tow. “Hers is an evil laugh,” Wash comments to Kaylee as they push the cart back towards Serenity. ***

Abe will later recall that they were only three steps from the ice planet stand when the burly hand grabs Mei-Mei roughly by the arm and tugs her behind the nearby produce stand. Abe’s hand drops to the knife at his hip, but a blow to the back of the head blacks him out before he can even grab it. His last, sick thought is that his baby sister’s not screaming.

***

Captain Malcolm Reynolds is having a good day. He’s unloaded cargo and gotten paid. With said money, he can put food for thirteen on the table, keep thirteen bodies clothed and healthy, and have a little left over to buy his wife some of the tea she likes so much. That always makes her a mite happier. In fact, his day just gets better when Inara and Ally meet up with him and Zoe after the drop, the tutor and first-mate heading off to find Lolly and Kacey to assist in carrying groceries. This leaves Mal the rest of the morning to take a nice, leisurely stroll through the market with his beautiful wife. Yep, a day doesn’t get much better than this, and he’s looking forward to lunch on Serenity, watching Abram and Serra open the plethora of presents that Amnon probably had waiting for them. He steps onto the ramp of his ship and, since he’s in such a good mood, hollers, “Where are my hell-raising children?” “Really, Mal, you dote on them too much,” Inara comments beside him with a patented eye roll. The only sound they’re met with is a stifled sob. Mal looks up sharply to see a destroyed Kaylee standing on the catwalk. “Lil’ Kaylee, what’s wrong?” Inara has already hiked up her skirt and run up the stairs to her best friend’s side, trying to console her. “Kaylee, what happened?” Kaylee just cries harder. “Abe and Mei-Mei are gone,” Lolly says, hollowly, from the other end of the catwalk. “Everyone’s been looking. They were supposed to be back two hours ago.” “Aiya! I told those two not to wander off… The trouble they get into…” “No, Uncle Mal, they’re really gone. Jayne and Aunt Zoe are still out looking, but we spent an hour scouring the entire market. They know not to leave.” Mal looks up sharply at the sixteen-year-old, dread pooling like liquid metal in his gut. He doesn’t even need to look at Inara to know her eyes are wide and scared. “What’s the Albatross got to say about all of this?” “She’s been babbling ever since they were due back. She hasn’t been this bad since I was little.” “Gone,” a voice whispers from the doorway. “Couldn’t see it… Not, not until they were already gone. Couldn’t get to them…” “River,” Inara breathes, voice shaking, “Where did they go?” “Not where. Who.” River raises her eyes to meet the captain’s. “I’m sorry, Captain Daddy… I should have saved Brother and Sister from him.” “From who, River?” Mal demands, his world spinning out of control. Leaving Lolly to comfort her mother, Inara stands and grabs Mal’s arm, squeezing until it hurts. The pain brings him back to now, and he puts an arm around his wife. River’s brown eyes are wide and full of tears. “Niska.”

***

“Abram… Wake up, Abram… Little boys shouldn’t spend all day sleeping…” The voice he awakens to his raspy and heavily laced with an accent he doesn’t recognize. His head is pounding, and there’s sick fear pooling coldly in his stomach. “Mei-Mei,” he groans. His mouth feels funny. His eyes open slowly. He’s startled by two blue, wire-rimmed eyes pressed close to his face. “Good morning, Master Reynolds. Did you have a good sleep?” Abe’s suddenly aware that he’s not laying down, but is instead strapped vertically, leather straps straining against his formerly unconscious weight. “Who?... Serra?” “Your little sister is doing well, Abram. Having her own little party…” “Let me see her,” Abe croaks. “Ah-ah… Not right now. We still haven’t been properly introduced. You see, I know who you are, but you don’t know who I am. So allow me to introduce myself. I, am Adelai Niska. And you, are a very lucky, lucky boy. Not many your age get to meet their true selves.” Abe’s stomach starts to rebel at the name, remembering the stories only Jayne and Aunt Zoe will tell. “Now, Abram, your father and I have an old debt to settle. And I am an old man, so he is running out of time to pay it. Tell me, do you believe that the sins of the father are visited upon the son?” Abe says nothing, eyes widening. “What about the daughter?” This time, Abe’s lunch comes sputtering back up. Spitting, he says, “If there’s so much as a mark on her, my father will kill you. Slowly.” “But what about you, Abram? Will he come as quickly when he hears the screams of his firstborn?” “They’ll all come. They’ve come before, and they’ll do it again. They beat you.” “For a time, perhaps. But right now, I hold all the cards.” Niska steps away, leaning heavily on a cane. “You had Serenity in sight. Why just take us?” “There’s more torture than physical, Abram. Damek, is the machine ready?”

***

Inara’s nauseating wail after River’s revelation will remain with Malcolm Reynolds for the rest of his life. She’s hysterical, the most uncontrolled he’s ever seen her, and it only adds to his fear. This is worse than the countless broken bones and head injuries little Serra and her brother have earned bouncing and tripping around Serenity. This is even worse than the bullet to the shoulder Abram took last year, stepping between the shooter and his mother. For all of those, the injured children were right in front of them. Simon was there to fix them in an instant, assessing damage, planning treatment. Mal and Inara could hold them, or at least their hands, watch them pull through it and comfort them. In this, they are powerless, have no idea where the children are or what that sick freak is doing to them. At some point in this blur of rage and terror, Simon gives Inara a smoother before she can make herself sick. He looks to Mal, who picks her up and carries her to their shuttle, laying her in their bed. He retrieves Lolly and Kaylee and puts them on watch over Inara, feeling a pang of guilt that the teenage girl must care for both older women. He doesn’t have time for that, however. River’s curled in small ball on the catwalk, no longer speaking. Simon is trying to get through to her, but is shooed away by Ally Caramia, who lays a gentle hand on River’s shoulder and starts whispering in her ear. “Get her a star chart,” Ally says suddenly. “She’ll point out where they are.” “Let’s take this to the mess,” level-headed Simon says, then looks to Kacey. The teenager nods and gathers his Aunt River into his arms, taking her to the dining room, where Wash meets them. The pilot startles a little at seeing the captain and his vacant eyes. “I- Kaylee and I… we’d just seen them, grabbed the post from them. They said they were headed for ice planets and would join us in a few minutes… Mal, I…” Mal takes a deep breath, willing himself not to snap on Wash. This is no one’s fault but Niska’s, he has to keep telling himself. “Get us a star chart, Wash,” Mal orders, though not harshly. “And call Jayne and Zoe back to the boat. If Niska has them, they’re long gone.” “Niska! Ai ya, tianna.” Wash hurries to do as he’s told.

***

Apparently even evil madmen need to eat, for the electrocution stops briefly and both Niska and his crony Damek exit the room. Abe barely notices, virtually unconscious and detached from his own body. He wonders how he’ll ever get back in. Some sort of guard or henchman comes in and takes Abe off of the apparatus, half carrying him to some windowless cell and tossing him in with a plate of food and some water. Abe is immediately suspicious of the food until the man says, “Mr. Niska wishes you to regain your strength so that you may continue tomorrow.” Abe eats the food, knowing he needs strength to get him and his sister out of here, and falls into a restless sleep. He dreams about Serra, and Mama, and home. Niska wakes him in the morning, Damek dragging him back into the original room. It’s not electrocution this time: it’s a knife, slicing patterns on his flesh. He doesn’t know if he screams, for his mind immediately detaches again, floating off to earlier, better times. //“Bubba, what are you doing?” “Talking to Mei-Mei,” // his almost-five-year-old self answers his mother. He has no visual memory of this, just the touch, his small body splayed across his mother’s legs on the couch, his face pressed into her rounded stomach as he recounts his day to the life growing inside. He feels warm, safe, protected. His mother’s hand in scruffing his hair; his chubby lips are tickling her tummy as he mumbles stories and endearments. //“Bubba, what are you doing?” “Talking to Mei-Mei.”// Instead of his mother’s soft, warm legs, this time, he feels the cold, hard metal of Serenity’s floor pressing into his belly through his soft cotton shirt, one hand thrust through the wooden bars of the crib, stroking the newborn’s back. Her eyes are shut tight, her lips open as she breathes, her back rising and falling. He moves his hand gently to her sparse dark curls. He’s once again relating his day to her. He fell in love with his baby sister at first mention and has spent the last ten years protecting her. Until now. “Abram… Abram, you have to stay awake or you’ll take away all of my little fun.” Abe forces his eyes open. “Say hello to the camera, Abram.” Abe looks up. He knows he screams this time when tip of the knife drags from shoulder to shoulder, just breaking the flesh.

***

They’ve been up all night, trying to work out a plan. They coax the location out of River slowly, between Ally’s gentle words and Simon’s sweet touch. Kaylee, Lolly, and Inara are still in the shuttle, but everyone else nurses coffee around the dining table. The Washburns take up the far end of the table, Zoe flanked by her men, working out the quickest way to get to Salisbury, where Niska’s space station is in orbit. Simon is trying to get as much information as he can from River as gently as possible. All he’s been able to get is that they’re not dead. Not yet. Jayne is silent, for once: angry, fuming even. Ally sits in Inara’s usual seat beside Mal, looking hollow and lost now that she has no purpose. He knows she’s being strong just staying here, not breaking down like Inara and Kaylee. Alistair Caramia is the third parent to every child on Serenity. She spends her days at their sides, teaching them, raising them. They tell her things they would never dream of telling their parents. He forgets, sometimes, that she’s only thirteen years older than Kacey, that she was barely more than a child herself when he took her aboard to help raise his children. “You’ve done it once before. With fewer of you,” she says softly, setting a hand on his arm, breaking Mal from the aching haze he’s fallen into. “He’s expectin’ us this time. He wants me to come.” Wash stands up suddenly. “We’ve got it. We’ll be there in a day.” “A day? They could be dead in a day!” “The ship can’t go faster, Mal, or she’ll blow up!” Wash shouts back, the nerves getting the best of everyone. “Bi zui,” Ally says calmly, “Everyone take a deep breath. Save the rage for the rescue.” “Ally’s right,” Zoe says, “Wash, get on up there and set us our course.” “This ain’t gonna be a simple smash and grab. Jayne, you’ll need your grenades; we’re occupyin’ the gorramn place,” Mal says quietly as Wash slips up to the cockpit. “Everyone’s comin’ along. ‘Cept the ladies in the shuttle, and Kacey.” “Uncle Mal…” Kacey begins to protest. “Bi zui, little Washburn. This ain’t a crack at your gun-slinging abilities, ‘cause I know they’re a mite better than the doc’s, but I need a doctor with me and at least one of my pilots on Serenity. Think you can handle a quick getaway?” Kacey nods solemnly, all protest gone. He’ll be eighteen within the year, already looks like and is starting to act like a man. “’Sides,” Mal says, “You may need those gun-slinging skills protecting my ship, dong ma? I need Kaylee in the engine room while we’re gone, Lolly helpin’ her out and helpin’ with the defense of the ship. Ally, you comfortable with all this, or you thinkin’ you’d rather stay behind?” “I can handle a gun, Captain,” she says, though her voice is a bit shaky. He knows that and says as much: he’s trusted her and her acceptable gun skills to protect his children on many occasions. Still, he worries about her reaction to whatever awaits them and has qualms about taking her for the same reasons he refuses to take Inara. “It won’t be pretty, Teach.” “I’m not expecting it to be.” Her eyes say she’s set on coming, and Mal needs all the guns he can get. “Still gonna know we’re comin’, sir,” Zoe says, meeting her captain’s eyes. “Yeah, I’m still thinkin’ on that.” “Mal,” Wash’s voice crackles in over the comm. “Mal, you better get up here now. We’ve got a wave coming in from Salisbury.” Mal hops up and runs to the bridge, not caring or even noticing that the crew’s following him. It’s a pre-recorded message. Niska’s face takes up the greater part of the frame, face lined even heavier with age, but Abram is visible in the background, bleeding and barely conscious. Mal’s hand tightens on the back of Wash’s chair, and Ally gives a little gasp. Jayne lets loose a string of Mandarin vulgarity. “Mister Reynolds… It seems I have something of yours… Tell me, Mister Reynolds, do you believe the sins of a father are visited upon the son?” The camera pulls in tighter on Abram, and Niska says, “Abram… Abram, you have to stay awake or you’ll take away all of my little fun.” Abe’s eyes come open slowly, glassy with pain. “Say hello to the camera, Abram.” The boy gives no response, and Niska’s crony pulls the knife across Abram’s chest. The screams are enough to send the contents of Mal’s stomach back up. “Serra,” the boy moans, “Where’s Serra?” “Hush, Abram, your sister is off having her own fun.” The frame returns to Niska. There’s a vein popping out at Mal’s temple. “And if not the son, Mister Reynolds, what about the daughter?” The screen shuts off. Mal kicks a crate of spare parts laying beside Wash’s chair down the stairs, narrowly missing the crowd gathered around him. He goes off in Mandarin until he collapses in the co-pilot’s chair, tears in his eyes and on his face. “We should all be getting some sleep,” Zoe says then, gently. “Be at Salisbury in 23 hours, gonna want to be well-rested.” Her words clear the bridge, even Wash and Kacey retreating. “Sir, we’ll get them,” Zoe says, standing across from him. “Ain’t no power in the ‘verse…” “We’ll get ‘em,” Mal interrupts, brokenly, “But what kind of state they gonna be in, Zoe? Abe’s barely ‘live now, what will 23 hours do to him? And we don’t even know what they’re doing to my baby girl…” “Can’t rightly say, sir, but we’ll get ‘em out, and Doc’ll fix ‘em up, and we’ll go from there.” Mal is silent, fuming, sick to his stomach with rage and disgust, envisioning the thousand cruelties his children must be going through. “Never should’ve left him alive.” “Go be with your wife, sir.”

TBC in Part 2