I own nothing.

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River could usually be found outside the medical bay window, watching the boy sleep. Zoë or Mal sometimes convinced her to eat with the crew, about as often as Simon or Kaylee convinced her to sleep in a bed instead of collapsing from exhaustion where she sat, or Jayne convinced her to spar or otherwise do something violent; when she was done, though, she'd always run right back to her spot by the boy.

None of the crew could understand her apparent devotion to this one boy. At first, they thought she was just concerned about the fact that he hadn't woken up yet, but neither had half of the other kids they had rescued from the Academy, and she didn't seem half as concerned about them. In fact, she seemed less concerned about those Academy escapees who were still asleep compared to those who were awake, whenever she asked about them. It was entirely too confusing to the crew, until Inara decided to take the Occam's Razor approach and just ask her.

"He dreams of Castle Camelot," River began. "It's the easiest way for him to sort out what's happening, and it always has been. Except he's getting it wrong." She paused. "Are you sure you want to know?"

"Of course I do, River," Inara said. "Maybe I'll be able to soothe your brother's mind, or maybe I'll be able to help. In any case, it can't hurt."

River sighed and then looked at Inara. "Maybe I should start at the beginning. Once upon a time, he was just David. In the same way as I was just River, of course; he was always special. Then the war came. Before, he was one of five thousand. After, he was alone. "The war changed him in almost the same way it changed Mal. He was darker - harder. Cast iron. He had... something about him, too. Something the Alliance wanted. And... it was war, and they were used to the rules of war, so... they took it. They took him. They also tried to take... but you wouldn't believe me, and she'll look after it until we're ready. Didn't care that it was wrong. Didn't care about the screaming. They made it stop soon enough. "My brother sometimes thinks I was the first subject of the academy. I wasn't. He was. They couldn't make him better, but they tried to make him theirs. When they found out they couldn't, they decided to try to make others just like him. They couldn't do that, either, but they could make weapons, like me." She looked back at the boy. "I was the best of my kind, so they wanted to see what would happen if we were the progenitors of a new race."

"A master race," said Inara.

River shuddered. "You studied your history lessons much better than I did. So did he. He knew what they were planning long before I did. Told me to get out. Told me how. Then... he went away. No one ever found out how, but he left his mind and never looked back. David died a hero, getting River out. Adam died before living, before Eve was finished." She looked at Inara again, her eyes suspiciously misty. "Time happened. We happened. The Operative happened. Doctor Matthaias - the director when I was there - knew his importance, even if he didn't fully understand. His successor didn't. He told them to wake him up or end him, but stop wasting so many resources sustaining a vegetable. They succeeded," she said, giving in to tears. "When we got him out... he was screaming."

Inara didn't think before acting, which was at the same time safer and more dangerous when dealing with River. She held her, just held her, while she cried. It seemed to Inara like the most natural thing in the world to do. "Shh, River," Inara soothed, as the girl's tears subsided. "It'll be okay. You're all safe now. You're all here-"

"But we're not!" River said. "He's still in Camelot, and he doesn't remember who he is! He thinks he's a knight!"

"Isn't he?"

"No. He's the king." River looked back at the boy, absentmindedly drawing runes on the window with her fingertips. "He gave us hope in there, you see, and also dignity - no, honour. He taught us how to keep secrets when they cut our brains open, and how to stay human when they tried to make us machines. You know how Zoë would follow Mal into hell and back?" Inara nodded. "We'd go there alone, and stay there, if he asked us to."

"Why?" asked Inara, startled.

"Because he wouldn't ask us to, unless he had no other option. But none of that matters if he won't wake up!"

Inara had no words for River. She was a Companion - a highly ranked, very experienced, unusually versatile Companion, to be sure - but just a Companion. She wished she had brought along Mal or Zoë, to give a soldier's brand of comfort, or at least Simon and his bedside manner. She settled for hugging River again and stroking her hair, as her own mother did years and years ago.

One of the Initiative escapees, a sandy-haired youth who had been asleep the last time Inara had seen him, barrelled down the hallway shouting, "Where is he? By God, if anything's happened to him-"

"Calm yourself, Lancelot," River said. "You're no good to him if you collapse. You just woke up. You're not used to walking around with no puppet strings. Now what woke you up, Freddy?"

"I found him, and I know why we couldn't. She's with him."

River gasped, and Inara asked, "Who's 'she'?"

"Morgana. None of us remember her other name, not even Mordred. I found them. Her back was to me, so I tried to end her, but-" He winced and grabbed his side, as if he had been wounded. "I think I managed to say his name."

Something in the med bay started beeping wildly. Simon, who had finally caught up to Freddy, heard the beeping and ran to the boy's side. All of his fiddling with the medical equipment didn't stop the boy's face from going pale and his breath from catching. His heartbeat was going off the charts, and he wasn't reacting to the sedative Simon gave him.

Inara watched through the medical bay window as River walked over to the boy's bedside. Actually, glided might be a better term - she carried herself with the uncommon grace and poise that was one of the traits that made her River. She didn't do much - she just stood next to the boy - David, or Adam, or whatever he was called. Then she took hold of his hand. Then he opened his eyes. "I remember," he said, voice steady despite his racing heartbeat.

"Arthur?" said River.

He turned and looked at her, then at Freddy, who was standing behind her . "Gueneviere, Lancelot... I remember."