The first time Mal died it was on a muddy blood soak field. His heart stopped, his chest stop rising, and his body went limp. He saw the great white light, his mother, father, and little brother. They were all calling him like sirens to step into the light. He followed their voices blindly. He saw her. Her beautiful angelic face, her emerald eyes, her one dimpled smile, and her raven curls. “I’ve missed you.” He whispered. She placed a single finger over his lips. “It’s not your time yet.” The light grew dimmer. Their faces began to fade. He reached out for them, but they pulled away. She took his face and kissed him. It was short but full of passion. “I’ll be waiting. We all will. But, it’s not your time.”

**** Book was once known as the harbinger of death. He had brought death to so many men, woman, young, and old. So the thought his own death was quite poetic, to die a bloody death. He wasn’t afraid to die now. He had found what he was looking for all those years in a small mining town with the men, women, young, and old that the verse had cast off. He had found redemption. Now all he wanted in his brief moments before death was for him to find it, to find what it took him years to find, hope.

***** Jayne had always imagined to die in a blaze of glory with bullets, grenades, knives, blood, guts, and swears. He never thought he would find death at 93 in a cottage surrounded by his wife, children, grandchildren, and great grand child.

**** Simon didn’t have any regrets he did everything for love. He wanted to keep her safe. He wanted to give her the world. And for a brief time, he did. They both were happy, his two great loves. He was a realist and he knew that happiness didn’t last forever. He knew that they would keep coming after her, after them all long as she was a threat. His death would bring an end to it all. It would bring them both of them happiness. She would have a normal life without a constant reminder of what they had done to her. And she would move on, forget that day he hurt her. Simon lived his life with no regrets. He would do anything for their happiness even die.

**** “Don’t know. I’m starting to like this poetry thing. Here lies my beloved Zoë, my autumn flower, somewhat less attractive now that she’s all corpe-ified and gross…” He moved the pillow from his face. He grew silent. “Hey make me a promise.” Zoë turned to face him. He sighed and looked up at the ceiling. “When I die promise me that you’ll get remarried.” She made a face. He turned to her and looked at her. There was nothing but love and concern on his face. “Seriously we all know that you will out live me. You and Mal. There could be a nuclear holocaust and you and Mal would climb out the ashes…” She cupped his face and kissed him. He wiped the tear from her face. “I worked to hard to get you smile, don’t want all that work to go to waste. Because your smile makes the stars look like crappy twinkle lights.”

Zoë starred into another man’s eyes as was pledging his love to her. Every word that he spoke pierced her like the wooden steak that went through him. It wasn’t that she didn’t love him because she did more than anything. Her love for another man killed her. She made a promise to find happiness, and she was a woman of her word. This man standing in front of her brought her happiness in ways she could never imagine. She hadn’t been looking for it, but it was right there. It had always been there and so had he.

***** A bullet was his number one guess, falling out the sky in a burning ship, running out of oxygen, and Reavers made the top of the list. Zoë saying no to him when he proposed also could be a cause for his death. Mal and one of his crazy schemes that never went as plan was a contender, River mistaking him for a bug and squashing him made his list of ways to die. Inara and the look she gave him when he walked in on her first night during her cleansing ceremony and Zoë because it took him a minute to cover his eyes. Simon and his so called “cooking” almost did him in on several occasions. He had been bored to death by the Preacher’s sermons, and the day that Jayne would finally make good on his promise to punch his lights out, could definitely cause his demise. Wash could think of 101 ways for him to die, but, a giant wooden stick crashing through Serenity’s window he never saw that coming. *****

She had been to the end of the verse and back. Fought Reavers, the Alliance and any other go se the verse threw at her. Blood, tears, laughter, cries, bullets, punches all came through her hulls. When they hurt she hurt. When they were happy she was happy. She was their salvation and their damnation. And when they were gone, she died as well.

**** Kaylee had been so wrapped up in her own emotions that she missed that Serenity was hurting. She knew Serenity better than she knew herself. Every bolt, wire, gadget, and gizmo that laced her and when she couldn’t fix her…it killed her.

**** Inara watched Serenity take off. You couldn’t tell it by looking at her, but Serenity was beautiful. She loved that ship. It hurt her to leave her and her rag tag crew, but it killed her when he didn’t ask her to stay.

*** She didn’t even realize that she had it in her hands. The way they looked at her. They didn’t want her. It would be better to go with him to be his bounty. Because, if River had to see their faces like that again, she would die.

***it's been a while, so I'm a little rusty. Tell me what ya think. ****