Like Blood in the Rayne Chapter 5
Title: Like Blood in the Rayne
Author: elsibet34
Fandom: Firefly
Pairings: Jayne/River with hints at Mal/Inara and Simon/Kaylee
Rating: R
Disclaimers: Joss is the Master of the Firefly ‘Verse. Subspecies is the product of Charles Band’s beautiful mind. It’s all theirs.
Summary: Serenity takes on more than its’ crew bargained for when they transport an ancient artifact.
Notes: This takes place after the BDM and all the Subspecies films. Everything is fair play. Also, I reserve the right to change pov at scene changes. I like to. :P
Chapter 5 - Pleasant Dreams and Nightmares
River flittered in and out of dreamland for a time until she could no longer easily distinguish between what was truly real and what was an overdeveloped invention of her inner thoughts. This merger of fantasy was not for her, in and of itself anyway, an unusual occurrence. On the contrary, it was entirely the norm when it came to her nearly awake state in the early morning. What made the profound difference to cause her to take note of it lay in the fact that, for the first time she could clearly remember, she found it a pleasing experience.
On this particular morning, as it so happened, the nightmares and monsters that regularly plagued her sleeping mind were conspicuously absent. She found herself smiling at the irony that the worst moments of distress and visions of monsters to seize upon her in some time had led, in a roundabout way, to her most peaceful sleep in years. Who could doubt, really, that had she not broken down completely, the impetus for Jayne to find himself needing to put her back together again would never have been born.
Jayne. River found it difficult to choose between allowing herself to drift back into the world where pleasant dreams of fond touches and whispered assurances filled her with joy and finally coming to back to reality, to hope he would still be the same Jayne when they woke. As it was, she’d spent just enough time on the edge of sleeping that it was hard to recall exactly what had really happened. Perhaps, she’d imagined the whole wonder?
She took the leap that allowed the real world to take over and found to her immense relief that all was still wonderful. Pleasant dreams seamlessly flowed into a pleasant reality where she found herself wrapped in a cocoon of warmth. It was so quiet in her head she could barely hear the whispers in the back of her mind. Overwhelming them was a feeling of content and then a sudden and very loud yawn right behind her ear. Well, so much for quiet. At least it eliminated the need of asking Jayne whether or not he was awake yet.
She wiggled back towards him and felt his arm tighten around her and the press of his hand through the cotton of her dress. Another sleepy question answered. The part where she’d undressed was a dream, then. She’d have been disappointed at that if she weren’t just so happy he was holding her close now that they weren’t asleep. She tried to sort out the dream kisses from the real but decided it didn’t really matter. Who would have guessed a gruff man like him could become so cuddly in the night?
Jayne pulled her tight against his front and rubbed her belly lazily in an easy manner that went against the sudden rush of nerves she felt pour off of him. “Uh,” he mumbled, “you sleep alright?”
She giggled at how cute his nervousness was. “Enough that touching would still be considered the appropriate thing this morning.” She turned over to look into tense blue eyes and pondered that, despite his greater experience in the world, the notion of someone being there when he woke up was nearly as foreign to him as it was to her. She took another leap. “Additionally, a good morning kiss is a time honored tradition in many cultures.”
River happily watched the tension flow out of his eyes to be replaced by mirth. “Well, I ain’t never been the kissing type but this morning I ain’t gonna argue with that none too much.” He pressed his lips to hers gently at first but increased the pressure steadily as she responded to it eagerly. A tiny whimper escaped River out of surprise from the shivers of unknown want coursing through her at his sucking her bottom lip between his and nipping at it with his teeth. Her hands scrambled for purchase at his bare chest, trying to pull him closer.
When she broke to gasp for air, he moved feather light kissing across her jaw to her ear. Jayne rolled them slowly so he lay atop her, his size pushing her to the mattress securely. As she wrapped her arms tightly around his neck, reveling in the feel of muscles playing under her curious touch, he alternated licking and nipping his way down her throat to the top of her dress at her shoulder. One roughly calloused hand pulled her dress down smoothly, his lips following as new skin was discovered. Even gasping couldn’t get her enough air.
She lost all ability to even attempt to draw a breath when his tongue ran over the swell of her breast. The real world had surpassed her most wonderful dreams. She could feel his fervent desire pressing into her desperately but something else, something not nearly as pleasant, invaded her realm. Attention broken, she sucked in air sharply. “No.” She removed her arms from around his body and pressed her hands at his shoulders.
Jayne flew away from her so lightning fast, rolling into the wall, that he smacked his head on the bottom of his gun rack. “Wa cao!” He rubbed the back of his head with one hand but watched her with concern. “I didn’t mean to push you. Guess I just got carried away a mite.”
She shook her head at him, trying to calm him and reached her own hand to his injury, displacing his hand and rubbing at the bump soothingly. She offered him a sad smile. “No. Not you. Tide’s come in. We have to go now.”
*************************************
“Sir, I think you need to see this.” Mal’s eyes popped right open. Not only had he not been sleeping all that well to begin with but there was a strain to Zoe’s voice that had him moving immediately. Zoe hadn’t sounded quite like that since Serenity Valley. He knew more than well enough when she got that tone something weren’t right with the ‘verse.
He grabbed his discarded shirt from the day before that hadn’t quite made it to the laundry bin on the off chance that the disturbance was Miss Morgan returning their wave. If he wanted questions answered, she’d need to be taking him seriously. Didn’t rightly need to add her not helping to their rapidly growing list of concerns.
Concerns, hell. There was a damn big one. He’d exited his quarters just in time to see River climbing out of Jayne’s bunk. Damn it; he knew something was up with Jayne but that had been the furthest possibility from his mind. All sorts of little pieces fell into place. Jayne hadn’t been guiltily shielding the girl from Badger. He’d been jealous. Mal liked the guilty idea much better, in retrospect, even if it had concerned him at the time.
“What the hell?” he sputtered out at the girl but she just fixed him with such a determined look he knew he was already beat where she was concerned. Besides, they had enough on their plate just then he didn’t have the luxury of time to give them the lecture about fraternizing with crew and how it just led to complicating things beyond belief.
Just for good measure, he still pushed an iced glare on Jayne when the big man followed River up into the hall. At least Jayne had the decency to look like he’d been caught at something he shouldn’t ought to be doing. Still, he didn’t look away. That front looked closed, too. Mal pointed a stern finger at the pair of them. “We get outta this feng le mess, we’re all gonna be having a little sit down discussion, dong le ma?” He clambered up the steps to the bridge adding to himself, “Not that they ever listen.”
“Zoe, what’s this that I need to…” He stopped and stared at the cortex, unable to believe the horrible images that greeted his eyes. He rubbed the sleep out of them, hoping against hope it would change what he saw. “Ren ci de Fo zu. Turn up the volume.” He told Zoe when a newsman appeared on screen.
Kaylee and Inara both came up the steps, still looking half asleep themselves. Kaylee looked at everyone and said, “We heard voices and doors. Our wave come in?”
At the same time, Zoe followed Mal’s orders. “Yes, sir.” she touched the screen and the newscaster’s voice filled the bridge. Mal’s stomach sank. All definitely weren’t right in the ‘verse.
“Eavesdown Docks sometime last night. It is unknown at this point just what brought the attack by reavers in from the Rim so far. Speculation is pointing fingers in the direction of the Alliance using the reavers in an attempt to distract the Border planets from their talks on the notion of seceding. Casualties so far have been counted only in the dozens, also fueling speculation that this might not be even the reaver attack it appears to be due to the organized fashion in which it was deployed.”
Zoe punched the sound back off. “Just going to be repeating itself now. The entire newscast is full of the words ‘appears’ and ‘speculation,’ sir.”
The view on the screen had switched to handheld shots of the area once the newscaster finished being a talking head. As it panned past a warehouse most of them recognized, Jayne swore. “That’s Badger’s place, ain’t it? Anybody else got a real bad feeling about this?”
Kaylee gasped. “Oh! Is that an arm?” She turned away from the screen in time to be caught by Simon just as he entered the bridge. His face reflected his puzzlement but he pulled her close to stop her crying.
“Is everything alright?” He ran his hands down Kaylee’s back. “River, you okay? You weren’t in your bed when I went to check.” He kept his arms around Kaylee but looked at his sister for answers.
“He brought the nightmares back.” River stated calmly.
Girl weren’t kidding, Mal thought. He’d seen his share of bloodshed, enough dead faces to last him his whole life, but nothing compared to seeing what looked like a devastating explosion had occurred but knowing the rending was done by human hands. The sheer volume of blood looked like a red tide had come to wash on Eavesdown Docks.
Body parts littered the streets, blood soaking into the dirt. Several workers walked around with bags and shovels, scooping up remains like so much trash. The camera focused on a gurney being wheeled away from the building. It was Badger. The man was covered in so much blood Mal couldn’t tell what of it was his or if he was even alive but hoped for the sake of Badger’s sanity that he weren’t.
River answered the unspoken question in the air. “He's alive.” She gave a shake, as if coming out of a trance and looked up at Jayne. “I can hear them again.”
Jayne put a steadying hand on her shoulder, a gesture Mal took in for later processing. “You reading over the cortex now?”
Simon spoke up, releasing Kaylee, who presented a more composed air than a few seconds earlier, until he only had an arm over her shoulders. His eyes were glued to the screen, missing the subtext of River and Jayne’s interchange. “She’s not reading it. Standard medical procedure dictates a cover to be placed over the face in the case of termination. You see his face. It means he’s alive.” Even Simon looked a little gray from the vision of destruction. “Although, I wouldn’t hazard a guess as to whether or not that condition is fleeting.”
“He’s got an army, all ready to kill. Stone of Blood. Bloodstone.” River shuddered again. Mal and Simon both took a step toward her but Jayne was already there to help her to the copilot’s chair.
“Bloodstone?” Mal asked.
Jayne was on one knee next to River, both her small hands grasping at his right hand tightly. “Girl was going on about that last night. She says it’s what’s in that gorram crate. Something about it stealing blood.”
That time, Simon noticed their proximity. “When last night? I don’t remember that.”
Mal didn’t have time for the protective older brother act just then. “You can give Jayne the third degree later, doc. Zoe?”
“Already on it.” She punched a few more buttons on the screen until an image appeared. “One thing’s for certain. Badger was right about ugly.” The picture showed what looked like a smoothed quartz crystal, several inches tall, incased in a golden cage that created an illusion of claws.
Inara started reading the text by the image aloud. “The Bloodstone was reputedly created by the Catholic Church as a guard against vampire attacks. Legend states that it was to hold the blood of all the saints upon their deaths to offer a never-ending fountain in exchange for the agreement by the vampire’s King that no living persons should be harmed so long as the Bloodstone flowed. In the late 20th century, it is said that one of the King’s sons, Radu Vladislas, who had fallen from favor, slew his father and his brother Stefan, the rightful heir to the throne, and took both the stone and the Kingdom for his own nefarious doings.”
She took a deep breath and went on. “Recently, an item has surfaced in collection that is claimed to be the Bloodstone of legend. It has made several sales through the auction circuit, price increasing exponentially with every sale. Experts doubt its authenticity.”
When Inara stopped reading, everyone stared at the screen in awe until River whispered. “Now, he wants it back.”
TBC…
****************************************
Chinese Translations:
Wa cao - Holy F&*$
Dong le ma - Understand me
Feng le - Crazy
Ren ci de Fo zu - Merciful Buddha
Author: elsibet34
Fandom: Firefly
Pairings: Jayne/River with hints at Mal/Inara and Simon/Kaylee
Rating: R
Disclaimers: Joss is the Master of the Firefly ‘Verse. Subspecies is the product of Charles Band’s beautiful mind. It’s all theirs.
Summary: Serenity takes on more than its’ crew bargained for when they transport an ancient artifact.
Notes: This takes place after the BDM and all the Subspecies films. Everything is fair play. Also, I reserve the right to change pov at scene changes. I like to. :P
Chapter 5 - Pleasant Dreams and Nightmares
River flittered in and out of dreamland for a time until she could no longer easily distinguish between what was truly real and what was an overdeveloped invention of her inner thoughts. This merger of fantasy was not for her, in and of itself anyway, an unusual occurrence. On the contrary, it was entirely the norm when it came to her nearly awake state in the early morning. What made the profound difference to cause her to take note of it lay in the fact that, for the first time she could clearly remember, she found it a pleasing experience.
On this particular morning, as it so happened, the nightmares and monsters that regularly plagued her sleeping mind were conspicuously absent. She found herself smiling at the irony that the worst moments of distress and visions of monsters to seize upon her in some time had led, in a roundabout way, to her most peaceful sleep in years. Who could doubt, really, that had she not broken down completely, the impetus for Jayne to find himself needing to put her back together again would never have been born.
Jayne. River found it difficult to choose between allowing herself to drift back into the world where pleasant dreams of fond touches and whispered assurances filled her with joy and finally coming to back to reality, to hope he would still be the same Jayne when they woke. As it was, she’d spent just enough time on the edge of sleeping that it was hard to recall exactly what had really happened. Perhaps, she’d imagined the whole wonder?
She took the leap that allowed the real world to take over and found to her immense relief that all was still wonderful. Pleasant dreams seamlessly flowed into a pleasant reality where she found herself wrapped in a cocoon of warmth. It was so quiet in her head she could barely hear the whispers in the back of her mind. Overwhelming them was a feeling of content and then a sudden and very loud yawn right behind her ear. Well, so much for quiet. At least it eliminated the need of asking Jayne whether or not he was awake yet.
She wiggled back towards him and felt his arm tighten around her and the press of his hand through the cotton of her dress. Another sleepy question answered. The part where she’d undressed was a dream, then. She’d have been disappointed at that if she weren’t just so happy he was holding her close now that they weren’t asleep. She tried to sort out the dream kisses from the real but decided it didn’t really matter. Who would have guessed a gruff man like him could become so cuddly in the night?
Jayne pulled her tight against his front and rubbed her belly lazily in an easy manner that went against the sudden rush of nerves she felt pour off of him. “Uh,” he mumbled, “you sleep alright?”
She giggled at how cute his nervousness was. “Enough that touching would still be considered the appropriate thing this morning.” She turned over to look into tense blue eyes and pondered that, despite his greater experience in the world, the notion of someone being there when he woke up was nearly as foreign to him as it was to her. She took another leap. “Additionally, a good morning kiss is a time honored tradition in many cultures.”
River happily watched the tension flow out of his eyes to be replaced by mirth. “Well, I ain’t never been the kissing type but this morning I ain’t gonna argue with that none too much.” He pressed his lips to hers gently at first but increased the pressure steadily as she responded to it eagerly. A tiny whimper escaped River out of surprise from the shivers of unknown want coursing through her at his sucking her bottom lip between his and nipping at it with his teeth. Her hands scrambled for purchase at his bare chest, trying to pull him closer.
When she broke to gasp for air, he moved feather light kissing across her jaw to her ear. Jayne rolled them slowly so he lay atop her, his size pushing her to the mattress securely. As she wrapped her arms tightly around his neck, reveling in the feel of muscles playing under her curious touch, he alternated licking and nipping his way down her throat to the top of her dress at her shoulder. One roughly calloused hand pulled her dress down smoothly, his lips following as new skin was discovered. Even gasping couldn’t get her enough air.
She lost all ability to even attempt to draw a breath when his tongue ran over the swell of her breast. The real world had surpassed her most wonderful dreams. She could feel his fervent desire pressing into her desperately but something else, something not nearly as pleasant, invaded her realm. Attention broken, she sucked in air sharply. “No.” She removed her arms from around his body and pressed her hands at his shoulders.
Jayne flew away from her so lightning fast, rolling into the wall, that he smacked his head on the bottom of his gun rack. “Wa cao!” He rubbed the back of his head with one hand but watched her with concern. “I didn’t mean to push you. Guess I just got carried away a mite.”
She shook her head at him, trying to calm him and reached her own hand to his injury, displacing his hand and rubbing at the bump soothingly. She offered him a sad smile. “No. Not you. Tide’s come in. We have to go now.”
*************************************
“Sir, I think you need to see this.” Mal’s eyes popped right open. Not only had he not been sleeping all that well to begin with but there was a strain to Zoe’s voice that had him moving immediately. Zoe hadn’t sounded quite like that since Serenity Valley. He knew more than well enough when she got that tone something weren’t right with the ‘verse.
He grabbed his discarded shirt from the day before that hadn’t quite made it to the laundry bin on the off chance that the disturbance was Miss Morgan returning their wave. If he wanted questions answered, she’d need to be taking him seriously. Didn’t rightly need to add her not helping to their rapidly growing list of concerns.
Concerns, hell. There was a damn big one. He’d exited his quarters just in time to see River climbing out of Jayne’s bunk. Damn it; he knew something was up with Jayne but that had been the furthest possibility from his mind. All sorts of little pieces fell into place. Jayne hadn’t been guiltily shielding the girl from Badger. He’d been jealous. Mal liked the guilty idea much better, in retrospect, even if it had concerned him at the time.
“What the hell?” he sputtered out at the girl but she just fixed him with such a determined look he knew he was already beat where she was concerned. Besides, they had enough on their plate just then he didn’t have the luxury of time to give them the lecture about fraternizing with crew and how it just led to complicating things beyond belief.
Just for good measure, he still pushed an iced glare on Jayne when the big man followed River up into the hall. At least Jayne had the decency to look like he’d been caught at something he shouldn’t ought to be doing. Still, he didn’t look away. That front looked closed, too. Mal pointed a stern finger at the pair of them. “We get outta this feng le mess, we’re all gonna be having a little sit down discussion, dong le ma?” He clambered up the steps to the bridge adding to himself, “Not that they ever listen.”
“Zoe, what’s this that I need to…” He stopped and stared at the cortex, unable to believe the horrible images that greeted his eyes. He rubbed the sleep out of them, hoping against hope it would change what he saw. “Ren ci de Fo zu. Turn up the volume.” He told Zoe when a newsman appeared on screen.
Kaylee and Inara both came up the steps, still looking half asleep themselves. Kaylee looked at everyone and said, “We heard voices and doors. Our wave come in?”
At the same time, Zoe followed Mal’s orders. “Yes, sir.” she touched the screen and the newscaster’s voice filled the bridge. Mal’s stomach sank. All definitely weren’t right in the ‘verse.
“Eavesdown Docks sometime last night. It is unknown at this point just what brought the attack by reavers in from the Rim so far. Speculation is pointing fingers in the direction of the Alliance using the reavers in an attempt to distract the Border planets from their talks on the notion of seceding. Casualties so far have been counted only in the dozens, also fueling speculation that this might not be even the reaver attack it appears to be due to the organized fashion in which it was deployed.”
Zoe punched the sound back off. “Just going to be repeating itself now. The entire newscast is full of the words ‘appears’ and ‘speculation,’ sir.”
The view on the screen had switched to handheld shots of the area once the newscaster finished being a talking head. As it panned past a warehouse most of them recognized, Jayne swore. “That’s Badger’s place, ain’t it? Anybody else got a real bad feeling about this?”
Kaylee gasped. “Oh! Is that an arm?” She turned away from the screen in time to be caught by Simon just as he entered the bridge. His face reflected his puzzlement but he pulled her close to stop her crying.
“Is everything alright?” He ran his hands down Kaylee’s back. “River, you okay? You weren’t in your bed when I went to check.” He kept his arms around Kaylee but looked at his sister for answers.
“He brought the nightmares back.” River stated calmly.
Girl weren’t kidding, Mal thought. He’d seen his share of bloodshed, enough dead faces to last him his whole life, but nothing compared to seeing what looked like a devastating explosion had occurred but knowing the rending was done by human hands. The sheer volume of blood looked like a red tide had come to wash on Eavesdown Docks.
Body parts littered the streets, blood soaking into the dirt. Several workers walked around with bags and shovels, scooping up remains like so much trash. The camera focused on a gurney being wheeled away from the building. It was Badger. The man was covered in so much blood Mal couldn’t tell what of it was his or if he was even alive but hoped for the sake of Badger’s sanity that he weren’t.
River answered the unspoken question in the air. “He's alive.” She gave a shake, as if coming out of a trance and looked up at Jayne. “I can hear them again.”
Jayne put a steadying hand on her shoulder, a gesture Mal took in for later processing. “You reading over the cortex now?”
Simon spoke up, releasing Kaylee, who presented a more composed air than a few seconds earlier, until he only had an arm over her shoulders. His eyes were glued to the screen, missing the subtext of River and Jayne’s interchange. “She’s not reading it. Standard medical procedure dictates a cover to be placed over the face in the case of termination. You see his face. It means he’s alive.” Even Simon looked a little gray from the vision of destruction. “Although, I wouldn’t hazard a guess as to whether or not that condition is fleeting.”
“He’s got an army, all ready to kill. Stone of Blood. Bloodstone.” River shuddered again. Mal and Simon both took a step toward her but Jayne was already there to help her to the copilot’s chair.
“Bloodstone?” Mal asked.
Jayne was on one knee next to River, both her small hands grasping at his right hand tightly. “Girl was going on about that last night. She says it’s what’s in that gorram crate. Something about it stealing blood.”
That time, Simon noticed their proximity. “When last night? I don’t remember that.”
Mal didn’t have time for the protective older brother act just then. “You can give Jayne the third degree later, doc. Zoe?”
“Already on it.” She punched a few more buttons on the screen until an image appeared. “One thing’s for certain. Badger was right about ugly.” The picture showed what looked like a smoothed quartz crystal, several inches tall, incased in a golden cage that created an illusion of claws.
Inara started reading the text by the image aloud. “The Bloodstone was reputedly created by the Catholic Church as a guard against vampire attacks. Legend states that it was to hold the blood of all the saints upon their deaths to offer a never-ending fountain in exchange for the agreement by the vampire’s King that no living persons should be harmed so long as the Bloodstone flowed. In the late 20th century, it is said that one of the King’s sons, Radu Vladislas, who had fallen from favor, slew his father and his brother Stefan, the rightful heir to the throne, and took both the stone and the Kingdom for his own nefarious doings.”
She took a deep breath and went on. “Recently, an item has surfaced in collection that is claimed to be the Bloodstone of legend. It has made several sales through the auction circuit, price increasing exponentially with every sale. Experts doubt its authenticity.”
When Inara stopped reading, everyone stared at the screen in awe until River whispered. “Now, he wants it back.”
TBC…
****************************************
Chinese Translations:
Wa cao - Holy F&*$
Dong le ma - Understand me
Feng le - Crazy
Ren ci de Fo zu - Merciful Buddha