If there ever was more of a time she wanted to curl up into a ball and cry herself to death, this was it. Simon raised a small bit of dust as he ran away. Away from Kaylee, away from Rive, and Serenity, and Mal and Inara and Zoe and Jayne and- No. Can't go up in smoke, not now. Simon needs her. He got broke, and she could fix him. Only she could fix him. Kaylee watched as her love and life left her with fear in his eyes. Blood was on the ground, her crys rent the air in twain. Ah! the sound of prophecy fulfilled!!! *** Cold. Cold and dank and dark and doom and cold and dark and loss and hate and cold and cold and cold and cold and cold and- Simon looked at the specters that had plagued him since that fateful day on Ptah. He just hadn't noticed them. Now they stood before him, unmasked and full of the voice of doom. His eyes were dry, yet they still held the unshed tears of a thousand days and a trillion lost souls. He stared into the darkness of this little hollow that he had used to hide from his fears. He spoke in a way that sent chills up the spines of the living. He spoke as one already dead. "What can I do?" *** It spoke to him, this monster and what was now only a shadow of a man. Book knew that what he had said before, about Reavers still being men, was a lie. He had seen it proven wrong before. Monsters existed everywhere, one just needed to look closely at each and every person one found. He had one, Mal had one, Zoe, Wash, Jayne, even Kaylee had one. River hadhad hers unleashed. And Simon...Simon was one. "What can I do?" it said to him again. Book looked at the waith, this shadow of a soul. "Come out into the light. We can help you in your trial. The final test awaits you still." Slowly, tenatively, this thing came out into the sunlight. Born in the dark of the void, sunlight cleansed this filth of its fear. The fear was gone from its eyes, and it looked upon the ones it had doomed.And, lo, upon the broken ground of Ariel, there stood a shadow of a man. It looked to the specters that were showing it the way back to its humanity. Simon looked back down upon the ones he loved. Nine scars traced his body, showing the cost of his insanity. With a heavy heart, he turned his back on all he loved, and all he had. "Tell me what I must do." Book smiled at him. *** River knelt upon th eblood drenched ground, clutching to her chest the knife Simon had used. The blood of the guilty innocents soaked into the gossamer fabric of her dress, mixing with the tears that fell onto the red blade. She felt a hand on her shoulder. She knew that Kaylee was trying to comfort, but the hand felt as cold and lifeless as the knife she clutched to herself. "River, honey, we'll find him. We will. Together. We might have to search all a Ariel, but we'll find him, never fear." River pulled away from her as if stung. She turned angerly on the mechanic. Kaylee was her best friend, she needed to know. More than anyone, she needed to realize that Simon wasn't coming back. And kind words wouldn't get the point across. Only anger. "You stupid BITCH!!! If you had only seen what was coming, you could have stopped him!!! But, no, you were too busy FUCKING him!!! Kaylee and Simon fixed eachother, but know Simon can't be fixed!!! You stupid...stupid..." River fell to the ground, sobbing, her grief that had been pent up for so long bursting past the dams she had built up around herself. Her tears mixed with Simons blood, which lay on the ground from the wounds he had sustained. Kaylee knelt beside her. She knew that River didn't really mean what she said...but she could not deny the truth in the words. But now was no time to break down. She and River could argue later. "C'mon, River, you can kill me later. Now, we gotta find Simon." "Can never come back," sobbed River dejectedly. "Can't come back to us. Gonna leave us for good. Can't-" "SHUTUP!!!" Kaylee was red in the face, not wanting to hear the truthful ramblings of some crazy psycho. Her priorities were remarkebly clear, now. Her tiff with Cassandra seemed miniscule to getting her beloved back onto her home. Their home. Reavers? Bring 'em on!!! Nothin' was keep her from Simon. She could only ever feel safe in his arms, ever again. Slowly, languidly, the sleek, black ship came down out of orbit. It touched down on the hill where Simon had run over. The ramp came down. And out came the hands of blue. One held something in his hand. Kaylee felt her nose start to bleed. *** Mal held the side of his head, a small baston against the blood rushing up to his skull. They all had been too flabbergasted to shoot the gorram rutter's when they had come. The ship moved so silently, that they couldn't have noticed her. Not with River turnin' on Kaylee like that. Now, he was paying for there foolishness and unpreparedness. With ALL there lives. River still knelt in the mud, not noticing the blood that mixed with her preety dress. Jayne and Zoe were writhing on the ground. Someone was screaming. It was him. Kaylee staggered toward Cassandra, hands over her ears. Cassandra was screaming, too. And writhing on the ground, as well. Her gun was laying next to her, forgotten in the blood haze. Kaylee fell next to her, blood carving tiny rivulets into her pristine skin, coming from her nose. She could feel the blood building, boiling behind her eyes. She picked up the gun. The operative was trying to soothe them, even as they writhed on the ground in agony. Killin' 'em with his bedside manner"Shh, shh. Do not fear. You would not have found your friend, anyway. The Pax we used had a failsafe. It kills the people it turns into Reavers within a week or so. Your friend will be dead in a few hours time, no doubt. You could not have found him in time." A shot rang out, clear and true. The man in blue gloves looked dumbly at his right hand. In it were the broken remains of his device. The shards were embedded into his hand, blue now tinged with red blood. His partner moved his hand, probably going for a second device. A second shot rang out, and he fell face forward to the ground, a bullet to his right temple. A third rang out, and the other gurgled, a bullet in his throat. He, too, fell, but onto his back. Kaylee stood up, panting heavily. The gun in her hand was still smoking from the shots she had fired. She was as angry as could be. Blood lined her face like the stains of the tears she longed to shed. She looked at all the people arrayed around her, groaning and wiping away the blood and gore from their faces. "Well, c'mon, get up!!! You heard that hwoon danh!!! We may only have a couple hours to save him!!!" *** Book stood beside Wash, his counterpart silent. He had barely said anything at all since he had seen Zoe. Book said to Simon, "Open yourself up, son. You must face what you fear most to overcome it." "How can I do that?" "Everyone has a different way. You must find out for yourself what must be done." "Okay. And...thank you. For everything. You to, Wash." "Nothin' to it. Friends help out friends, even after they been skewered by a harpoon. That hurt a bit, by the way." "I imagine." He took a deep breath, ready to face his fears. Problem was, he didn't know how to do it. *** They each went this way and that, in groups of two. Mal and Inara, Jayne and Cassandra, and Zoe, Kaylee, and River. They didn't bother with shuttles, as the things would attract every Reaver for miles. The three marched through the wreckage of the once proud city. Off in the distance, Kaylee heard the scream. The others heard it too, and all three rushed off toward the sound. They crested a hill, and found the source. There was a Reaver, writhing in agony. Blood poured out of its broken body. It sweated the stuff, threw up mouthfuls of it. It writhed and shuddered and screamed and raged for almost five minutes before it gave one final gasp, then lay still. It lay in a pool of its own blood, bursting forth for ten feet on all sides. They all picked up the pace; that could soon be Simons fate. *** Simon walked in the realm of shadows. Through the shadowed trees and rocks and hedges and spirits that inhabited his own personal Hell. Blood dripped down from the sky, out of nowhere. Hundreds of thousands of billions of trillions of gallons of it splashed down, forming a sea of roiling blood. And it was cold. So cold that only the roiling of the Blood Sea made a sound. Everything was frozen solid. He walked upon cold ice. He needed warmth. The sea was warm, and the blood would be sweet upon his flesh. He took a step toward the lucios red sea. It moved away from his foot. He took another step, and it went farther still. He started to run. He was running through this sea, but no Blood would touch him, warm him with its lordly touch. From above him, he heard laughter. He looked up, and there was the Lord of Blood. He sat upon his blood red throne, seated upon the skulls of his victims. He was laughing at Simons plight. "DO YOU WISH TO FEEL THE WARMTH?" HE boomed out across the sea to Simon. "DO YOU WISH TO PARTAKE IN MY GIFT?" Yes, thought Simon. "YES!!!" he shouted at the Lord. "How may I do so?" The Lord of Blood laughed at him some more. Then, he turned to the man before him, and held up a cage in one giant, clawed hand. Inside the cage, like some bird on display, was Kaylee. "KILL HER. SHED HER BLOOD UPON MY THRONE, AND FEAST UPON HER TENDER FLESH." The Lord waved his free hand, and Simon flew up to them. He gazed hungirly at Kaylee, that skin, that- No. The trial. His fear. He musn't give in. But, oh, how he wanted to feel the warmth... From somewhere, Simon was handed a knife. He took a step toward her, caged and in shackles. She cowered against the wall of the cage, bars digging into her flesh. Simon looke into those eyes, those eyes he had looked into, so many times. With a cry, Simon turned, and threw himself onto the Lord of Blood. *** River looked at Simons body. His pulse was racing, and he writhed on the ground, muttering incoherent battle crys. "He needs a blood transfusion soon, or he will die." "But Serenitys too far. He'll die before we get there." "There is a way. I have a plan, and it might save him."