The Promise: part1

Story takes place post Serenity

She looked up out of the window, gazing at the stars, knees drawn up to her chin. They were so beautiful. Like people there were so many yet so different. She felt as if she were one of them.

“Why had things turned out this way…………her life? Wasn’t she doing what had been asked of her? Wasn’t she the smart , intelligent girl that they wanted?”

She was wanted. In more ways than one.

“They’ll never stop.”

She looked over at Serenity’s pilot.

“ They’ll never stop coming for you” He said

“Wash?” It was just he and she in the cockpit. Everyone else were either asleep or in their bunks doing whatnot.

“ Zoe is in her bunk dreaming of you.” She told him.

“ And I dream of her, constantly.” He paused. “But I am where I must be for now and you must do what needs to be done” He smiled “ Take care little one. Enjoy the sight. I always did.”

She looked back to the dark sky. The pinholes of light seeming so distant, yet so full of life.”

“I will come for you.” she said almost to herself. “ I will get you and I will get what I deserve.” That last bit said with some bitterness.

“ They are beautiful aren‘t they.”

She turned again looking at someone completely different sitting there now, a man. She knew him without knowing him. River knew who he was.

Arms folded across his chest, he wasn’t looking at her. He was looking out, at the vastness of space.

“ My job is to protect them. Protect them by any means. The universe needs control, a power to lead it, a power to keep it safe.” He turned to view the girl, a blank expression on his face. “ Even if that means hunting you down.”

“ I’ve come to expect no less. “ She told him “I made a promise to go back. I will keep that promise. The voices haven’t stopped. They are still crying, they will never stop. They are part of me now and I live with them.”

She looked into his emotionless expression.

“ Set a course for Serenity…….Dellitar.”

He smiled.

“…and what of them?” He asked with a nod of his head to the back of the ship.

“ They are on this boat, taking a journey. No matter where you go in life there is always a fee.” She stopped. “Even if you don’t know where you are going you must always pay the tolls-man.”

He reached out to the controls before him. Hands covered in blue gloves.

“Are you sure?” He said looking at her.

“I’m sure.”

She turned her head looking back over her shoulder. The entryway looked so quiet and lonely.

“ Plot the course.” She confirmed.

She looked back and the man was gone. The instrument panel told her that a new direction had been selected, Dellitar. She smiled.

“Time to keep my word.”

End part1