(All Firefly characters are the property of Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy and all original characters are mine.)

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--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part 4

Once River had finished putting all the pieces together, she checked her sights, adjusted the range and then sat back on her heels.

“Daddy? not dead or alive. Why are you here? I remember you, all blurred now can't see! Where's Simon?” She asked, then answered her own question with “Simon's lost. Poor Simon! Head’s buzzing, mind unclear, driving further towards insanity but it’s not a place just a state of mind. Can't find himself, doesn't even know who he is anymore! He needs you daddy, we all do!”

Then a faint static sound came over the small com link on the jacket. “Ready student Tango Blue” a voice barked to her.

River smiled, whispered “ready!” and popped her eye onto the eyepiece attached to the gun.

“Target headed to you. Approaching from North East in approximately 2 minutes as predicted. Target is to be eliminated on sight” came the barking voice.

River concentrated and waited for the target to appear. Mal moved closer to River and said gently “River, don't do this. You have a choice. No touching guns, remember?” He was repeating the words he had said to her the day before that bounty Hunter Jubal Early had tried to take her away.

“I remember” River said and pulled the trigger. “But it never happened!”

“What did they do to you, River?” Mal asked.

River started to sob. “They cut me up, took things that didn't belong to them. I told them...told them stealing is wrong but they wouldn't listen, told me that time wounds all heels but the voices are still screaming in my head. Please make them stop”.

Mal wanted to take River into his arms and chase away her demons but once again the barrier between them prevented him.

Behind him Mal could hear people screaming and shouting as they tried to work out where the bullet, that had hit its mark, had come from.

The voice on the radio came again. “Student Tango Blue, target is verified dead. Report back to base”.

River smiled sweetly, packed her things and turned to leave.

“Wait!” Mal called after her. “Why are you doing this?”

“It's what I am, what they made me. Only you can make it right again!” River called back to him and she walked across the rooftop and out of sight.

Mal looked after her for a moment then looked at the woman stood silently beside him. She now looked old and haggard, her hair grey and her face sagging slightly. She was having trouble breathing and the hand she held out to him was very thin and every bone was clearly visible.

Mal took the hand carefully, not wanting to break the brittle bones or hurt her in any way.

Although they jumped to the next location again in an instant the woman staggered and fell, her face drawn with pain.

“I feel the darkness draw pulling through the night, death is drawing closer to drag me out of sight. The circle is complete and now it's time to die, all life is but a chain and so I say goodbye” She said faltering slightly when her breath caught and then added in a voice so low that Mal almost didn't hear “brother!” then took a deep breath, smiled, closed her eyes and then didn't breath again.

“Wait!” Mal shouted, shaking her. “How do I get back and change this? I can't stay here!”

His head drooped and he lay the lifeless body gently upon the ground.

After a moment of grief, Mal lifted his head and took in his surroundings. He was in another graveyard but this one was very different. The sun was shining and it was full of colour. Bright, wondrous flowers adorned the graves.

A little way away a funeral party stood around an open grave.

A shepherd, Book, stood there committing the body to the ground.

“We now commit the body of your servant, Suzanne Jena Reynolds to the ground and into your care Lord” Book was saying.

Mal looked down to where the woman lay, or rather, had lain as she was now completely gone.

Mal looked back at the funeral party a little closer and saw a tall woman stood by the coffin that reminded him of his mother. She was wearing a heavily veiled hat so he couldn't see her face.

The service had now finished and Mal, a little unsure of what to do, followed them across the grass.

Once inside, Book approached the tall woman and handed her a flat square package.

“I'm sorry for your loss, Mrs. Reynolds” Book said gently. “Here's the plaque you wanted for Suzanne”.

The woman lifted off her hat and veil and looked Book in the eye.

Mal couldn't help but gasp. It was his mother! His own mother and despite the teary face and loss of smile, she looked so good. Mal wanted to comfort her even though he didn't know what was going on.

He moved closer and listened to his Ma as she talked to Book.

“.... I’m going to hang this in her room” Mrs. Reynolds was saying.

“I'm sorry I didn't have time to know her. She must have been a good person,” Book said. “Saving someone's life is a wonderful thing to do”.

“But why did she have to die?” Mal's ma sobbed. “She had a brother, you know”. She dug around in her bag and pulled out a tissue.

“No. Was he here?” asked Book.

“He died in the womb,” Mrs. Reynolds said. “We even had a name picked out”. A tear formed in the corner of her eye and slowly slid down her face.

She again dug in her bag and pulled out a photograph, which she handed to Book.

“We were going to call him Malcolm Joseph” She said as both Mal and Book looked at the photo.

The photo was of her, his angel... No, his sister.

As he stood there watching his mother and Book, he heard familiar voices from far away.

One of them sounded very much like Zoe and the other Simon. Then there was silence for a second. He opened his eyes gently.

“Welcome back Sir,” said Zoe moving into his line of vision.

“What happened?” Mal was slurring slightly.

“You got shot Sir” said Zoe.

“Again!” said Mal raising his eyebrows to the ceiling. “Where's the Doc?”

“Gone to see how Book is doing. He got hit too but only a scrape” Zoe answered him.

“Oh” was all Mal could say. His head was fuzzy and he was having trouble focusing. A moment later it cleared.

“Ni me she ba sir?” asked Zoe.

“I'm shiny. Well...what happened after I got shot? How did we get out?” he asked Zoe.

“We were pinned down by the 'rates sir but then reinforcements came in the shape of Wash, Kaylee and the Doc and we managed to hold them back until we could get you and get gone” Zoe told him.

“Did we get paid?” asked Mal.

“If you mean did we get that coinage you were after, the answer's yes. You held so tightly to it I didn't think you would ever let go. Also while they had us pinned down just had to boast...”

“You'd think they might have figured out that telling your hostages what you've been up to is not a good idea in this biz, but no!” Mal interrupted.

“That we'd been set up good and proper by the Client. The cargo was just a ploy sir, to get us all killed. There was no cargo, no drop off” Zoe continued.

“We can't let this slide, Zoe. We'll have to find the wangba dan and give him a piece of our minds!” Mal smiled somewhat maliciously.

“That we will sir! I'll leave you to think on that,” Zoe said turning and leaving.

A few minutes passed, then River poked her head around the door.

“Hey River, Ni hao ma?” Mal asked softly.

“Bang ji le! You saved us. You made the voices go away” she smiled.

River moved closer and put a hand on his cheek.

“Brother, one of two, half of a pair, ying to her yang, 2 peas in a pod” she looked into his eyes.

“My sister, Suzie” Mal smiled sadly. “I wish I could have known her better”.

Simon came into the room. “What's going on?” he asked. They both ignored him.

River put her hand over Mal's heart. “In here. Always watching” She smiled down at him and said “xiexie. Time wounds all heels. Screaming in my head. You made them bi zui. All good. Back to crazytown. No touching guns!”

Mal regarded her with a gentle look. He knew she was trying to tell him that it was okay, she remembered their words. River kissed him on the forehead and then turned to leave.

Mal saw Simon's puzzled look and said “Don't look so worried Doc, Everything's shiny”.

River moved away from the door out into the common room and as Mal drifted off to sleep, he heard the welcome sound of her laughter echoing around the ship.

THE END