Mal, Wash, and Jayne were being held together in a tiny underground concrete cell in the base of the coleseum. Overhead, they could hear the pounding of feet as a massive audience was taking their seats, and the dull wave of noise coming from every direction spoke to the enourmous size of the building they were confined beneath.

A burly guard outside the metal door had just finished informing them of the nature of their impending deaths, and Mal stood trying to think of any sort of acceptable solution. Near as he could tell, there wasn't one. They could enter the arena armed with axes, knives, and other rudimentary weapons and fight their fellow prisoners to the death, and anyone left standing would be finished off by tigers and leopards let loose in the arena.

"But you don't got ta' fight if you don't want to," the guard had explained cruelly. Those without the desire or the stomach to do battle would simply be tortured and killed.

Mal looked at his two shipmates sharing the cell and their fate with him. Jayne, pacing about not unlike a tiger himself, inspecting every inch of the cell for some sort of weakness. Wash, standing quietly to the side, stunned. Wash caught Mal gazing at him out of the corner off his eye and looked over, his eyes asking Mal all the questions he couldn't bring himself to voice.

"I wouldn't mind getting me a tiger," grunted Jayne.

"How we going to do this?" asked Wash. "Walk out there and...what? Try to defend ourselves 'til we go down?"

"You came for me. I'll come for you."

Mal shook his head, River's words weighing on his mind. "Jayne, Wash, I got no right to order you to do this, so take it as a suggestion. The others, they're gonna come for us, try to get us out of here. I got a mind to be here for them when they show." Wash nodded acceptance.

"You think we're gonna be rescued?" asked Jayne in surprise. "I don't mind getting beat on for a while if it means we're gonna get out of here."

Mal shook his head sadly. "No," he said, his voice cracking. "I don't think we're making it out of here. I think they're gonna-" he paused while he forced his voice to obey him. "They're going to die trying. We're going to be out there in front of thousands of people, all of them more than hostile. The odds are just - I can think of a whole handful of ways to try, but it's gonna be a suicide mission."

Mal took a deep breath, looking at the two men squarely. "I don't want them to see nothing but bodies when they show. If they lay down their lives for this -" He looked directly at Wash. "I want to be conscious enough to look Zoe in the eyes and say goodbye. I want them to have something to fight for, it's the least..." his voice trailed off.

"Now that just sounds downright stupid," Jayne protested. "Anyone's in need of something to fight for, it's me. I ain't gonna sit around and let them torture me to death."

"Like I said, it's your choice, Jayne."

Wash was standing in shock, facing away from Mal. "Wash!" Mal said sharply. Receiving no response, Mal moved to face him and gripped him firmly by both arms. "Wash! Look at me," he ordered. Wash raised his gaze to meet Mal's, and Mal could see the horror and the grief in his kind-hearted pilot's eyes. "Wash, can you do this?"

Wash nodded silently. "Listen to me. I've done this. It's gonna be truly horrible, but it will end. You remember what I'm saying." He shook Wash gently. "It will end. And..." Mal hesitated for a second, choosing his words carefully. "You know I'm not the sort that believes in God and heaven and happy endings. But if there is any sort of an afterlife, you'd best believe I will watch over you and I will find you."

Wash looked more frightened than Mal had ever seen him, even when they had been captured by Niska. But his breathing steadied under Mal's firm, confident grip, and Mal could see a certain resolve harden on his face. "Wash, you will not be alone, you hear me?"

Wash nodded again and met Mal's gaze squarely as he said "Let's do this." The corner of Mal's lip pulled back in a faint glint of a smile as he nodded back. "Let's do this," Mal replied quietly.