A/N: This is completely independent of my current series.

Not exactly sure where this came from. It was originally titled "In Sunshine and In Shadow," so I suppose the song "Danny Boy" served as a bit of inspiration.

It's a little artsy for me, so let me know what you think ... I can wax poetic for days at a time, so I could be persuaded to write more like this!

Leiasky beta'd, but I made changes after the fact, so any remaining mistakes belong to me.

Enjoy!

***

He had always been in shadow; cloaked in grays and deep blues that kept him hidden from people, places and things. It wasn’t intentional, not when he was young, but it was all the same.

Studious. Serious. Simon.

The longer he lived there, skirting the light, the more comfortable, the more real, it became. It was home now, murky and unyielding; foggy and confusing. By the time Simon Tam stepped foot on Serenity he had become the shadow, stealthy and secret and afraid of the light.

But to her, he’d never been dark or cloudy, he’d been bright and warm. From the moment River was born, her brother, her ge ge, had filled her world with his love, his loyalty, his protectiveness and those emotions infused her mind, body and spirit with warmth and light.

Loving. Laughing. Simon.

Simon was her light, but she could not be the same for him. What had been done to her, what he had saved her from inspired his blackness. It was this betrayal, this tragedy that kept the light from returning, that clouded his heart with pockets of disease and despair. Her trauma had inflicted wounds on her brother no one could see, no one could touch, and only he could feel. Her brain had been sliced open by those thoughtless and horrible men, but Simon’s heart had been wrenched apart only to be hastily pieced back together again.

But sunshine is inevitable, like breathing or death, and even Simon could not stop the inevitable. His new source of light shined brighter than any sun, than any star, and it shined on him. It illuminated the dark, dusty places of his soul and coaxed his tired and beaten heart back to health. Not it, she.

Happiness. Love. Kaylee.

River kept to her shadows still; Simon had made comfortable havens there, respites for himself that she absconded, moving into these dark corners once he stepped into the light. She didn’t mind, it was the least she could do and it was where she belonged.

And Simon belonged with the light, with his sunshine, with Kaylee. Now his colors were orange and yellow, his smile big and wide, his eyes dancing and sparkling. And River felt peace. She had healed him, broken as she was. She had led him to his sunshine, just as he had led her. True, she now used his shadows to hide from the morass of her mind, but it didn’t matter. River knew she would spend the rest of her life absorbing the shadows if it meant her brother was never touched by them again. After all he had sacrificed, it was the least she could do.

***

Translations: Ge ge - big brother