This scene was written as part of another fic I'm working on right now, but it slowed the pace of the story down, so I cut it. However, I liked it so much that I couldn't just let it go unshared. It's inspired by something River says to Mal in "Those Left Behind", and it's also unbeta'd.

Disclaimer: Joss owns this 'verse, not me.

There was the ball again. That colorful ball of yarn that she adored like a kitten. It was made of a rainbow of colors: blood reds, shimmering golds, earthy browns, grass greens, warm oranges, soft pinks, ash grays, and crystal blues. It was nearly hidden in tall, wispy grass at the bottom of the heart of a valley.

River tried to reach out to the ball, but a wind pushed it away. She reached again, but a great stormy, downburst came out of the sky and tore the top string lose. It was made of red and gold. The fine structure and thickness helped keep the rest of the stings tied down, but now that it was free from the ball’s hold, it flitted away and caught in a nearby rose bush.

The next string to come lose was the ashen grey color. Its construction was nearly as fine as the one before, but this one flitted away in the distance and was gone.

Another string of orange and green but lesser in quality quickly fallowed the second string.

Quickly, she reached out again and grasped the ball coming lose. She went over to the rose bush to get the red and gold string so she could tie all the others down before it came undone, but her finger pricked on one of the thorns. The blood ran heavily out, but it wasn’t blood red like in the yarn, it was blue. Dark blue. Inhuman blue!

The color began to dye her skin from the prick and crept up her arm. She couldn’t stop it! It felt cold and tingled badly. She couldn’t control her arm anymore. It worked to undo the yarn as this parasite crept up her chest and neck. It was reaching up to her brain!

She screamed for help.

River woke up in her bed gasping for breath. The memory of the dream sent a shiver up her spine. She also found that her arm had fallen asleep under her.