Fic-Ghost of a Rose
Title: Ghost of a Rose
Author: walkwithheroes
Summary: She asked him to remember her
Rating: PG
Characters: Mentions of Book and Inara
Pairing: Gen
Warning: No actual characters from Firefly or Serenity appear
Spoilers/Timeline: None/AU timeline
Series: Takes place in the TMTC or H.E. ‘verse
Disclaimer: I don’t own the ‘verse this story takes place in. A lot of lines are from a song called ‘Ghost of a Rose’ by Blackmore’S Night
This one is totally based on Blackmore’S Night’s ‘Ghost of a rose’-but come on-does it not fit Shadow/Rayne?
Shadow
January 29, 2550
Derri Reynolds let her shawl fall to the seat of the pew before she knelt and did the sign of the cross. She gazed up and was quiet for a moment before moving to the confessional and entering.
Derri knelt down and did the sign of the cross again. “Bless me father, for I have sinned. It’s been two days since my last confession.” There was a long pause. “Father?”
“Uh…okay. W’at ya do, you dirty little girl? Go whip yerself.” Came the reply.
Derri raised an eyebrow. “Father?”
“Yes?”
Derri let out a little huff and stormed out of the confessional. “Shadow Alexander Reynolds!” She hissed under her breath. “You’re sinnin’ and you stop it right now.”
The door to the priest’s part of the confessional swung open, reveling Shadow. He offered her a little wave. “Hey.” Derri just glared. “W’at? Oh, come off it, it was funny.”
Derri just seemed to glare harder. “Derri.” He watched his sister storm out of the church. Waiting a beat, Shadow followed. “Don’tya want yer shawl?” She didn’t even turn around; she just grabbed it and kept walking. “Oh, stop it. I’ll give ya a ride home in the mule. It’ll jus’ take two hours if ya do it that way.”
“I don’t want anythin’ from someone who claims t’be a man and yet makes fun of me f’r prayin’ t’a God.” Came her sharp reply.
Shadow sighed deeply. “I’m sorry.”
Derri stopped walking and whirled around to face him. “Really?” She raised an eyebrow. “How sorry? Sorry enough t’say it were wrong?”
“It was.” He agreed with a grave nod. “I’m a bad, evil, rude man.”
“You’re not taking it seriously.” Derri accused. “You’re makin’ fun, again.”
“Oh, come on! I am not making fun of you.” Shadow groaned in frustration. “I was jus’ kiddin’ an’ I’m sorry.” Glancing around the town, Shadow wondered what he could get his sister that would make her happy again. “I’ll buy ya a dozen roses.”
“Mama plants ‘em.” Derri reminded her younger brother. “Reds, yellows, and whites. But, you can pick me a dozen of each when we get home.”
When you see a white rose, you’ll think of me.
Shadow shook his head, trying to not think about that. “Deal.” He offered her his arm and Derri took it. “Now, let’s git home.”
Shadow, Serenity Ranch
July 27, 2548
There was a stream, in the middle of a valley, just north of Serenity Ranch. Shadow, when things got to be a bit much, would go there to think. Currently, he was thinking about his love life, or lack there of.
“Found you!” He glanced over his shoulder to see that Rayne was standing just a few feet from him, a smile as big as a moon of her pretty face. “Looked an’ looked an’ looked an’ found you!”
“That you did, Rayne Drops.” Shadow reached out a hand and Rayne bounced over to him to take his hand in hers. “W’at ya need?”
“From you?” Rayne made a little face, to show that she was thinking really hard about the question. Finally, she looked up at him and said: “A promise.”
“Anythin’ an’ everythin’.”
“Promise, when I’m gone, you’ll think of me.” She watched as Shadow’s face became a mask of confusion. “Auntie Inara plants white roses all year long, those’ll work. Promise me, when you see, a white rose you'll think of me.”
“Rayne, now you ain’t goin’ nowhere an’-”
“Promise!” Rayne demanded urgently. A light blush formed on her face. “I love you, so you must never let go. Even when all is lost, I’ll be your ghost of a rose and I’ll remember and you’ll remember.”
“Rayne…” The words caught in Shadow’s throat, just as Rayne let go of his hand. “Rayne, I-”
“Promise.”
“I promise.”
She smiled again. “Good. Our love will be so live and let go, but you’ll remember. Even when I-” Rayne shook her head lightly. “Better go, sun’s settin’ and we’ll get left behind if we stay.” She started skipping off to the house and Shadow had no choice but to follow.
Days later, he would remember their talk and see it as a warning-Rayne had been trying to tell him that she was going to be taken. For years, Shadow wondered why, if Rayne knew, she never tried to stop it.
Angel
January 30, 2550
Jonah watched Rayne Cobb pace back and forth. “She-she needs a mission.” Rayne was rumbling again. “She has a purpose, she is reasonable…she has reason.”
“And what kind of mission would you like?” Jonah asked, only sounding a little interested.
Rayne stopped paceing for a moment. “She…” The girl turned to look at Jonah. “she must have a mission, any kind will do. Everything and everyone in the ‘verse has a reason. She wants one, too.” Rayne laughed bitterly. “Can’t do what you’ve done and not give her a reason! It doesn’t fit…it doesn’t make sense. She has all five senses.”
“Well, maybe in a few months.” Jonah replied.
Rayne gave him a hard look, before slamming herself down in a chair. Jonah jumped a grabbed his pen off the table. “Jonah always does that, why?”
“It…it’s just a reflex.” He replied, sounding a bit guilty.
Rayne nodded sharply. “Like fear or sex.”
Jonah swallowed. “Um…yes.” He cleared his throat. “I’ll see about getting you a mission, okay?”
Paquin
February 3, 2550
Sometime the night before, they had taken Rayne out of her room and put her on a transport for Paquin-she had a mission. Somewhere on Higgin’s Moon, a baby was chocking in his sleep. On Ariel, an old man was being stabbed by an ungrateful son. Rayne knew all this, but she never questioned how or why she knew it all. All she knew was, that because she knew those things, they had seen fit to giver her a mission.
“R. Cobb.” Rayne opened her eyes, to find herself stabbed in a chair, and Dr. Lemm standing over her. “I have thought the mission. Are you aware of it?”
Rayne paused in thought for a moment, before answering: “They’ll cry out for mercy.”
Dr. Lemm’s face hardened. “Show none. Mercy is a sign of weakness. What if we’d been merciful with you?”
Two hours later:
Dr. Lemm had had Rayne kill a family as they slept in their warm beds. He had told her, or rather thought to her, that they were a threat to what was happening in the government. Dr. Lemm had told her to show no mercy. Rayne had apllied presure to their bodies, so they’d die in their sleep-it was as merciful as she could be to them.
But, she had to make it look like an addicent. Something for people to read on the Cortex and think: “Shame, really.” Rayne had chosen to set the house on fire. A pretty fire to send them all to Heaven.
As the house burned, Rayne sat in the garden, waiting for Dr. Lemm. The family had a rose garden, all red, yellow, and white.
Promise me, when you see, a white rose you'll think of me.
Sitting up, Rayne began to dance a waltz with herself. “They cried out for mercy and she showed it to them. All hope is not lost.” She glanced over at the buring building.
It was then, that she felt someone awkwardly putting his hands in hers. Rayne looked up, thinking it would be Book. “Oh!” Staring at her and smiling, was Shadow. “Shadow remembered what Rayne asked of him!”
“Could never f’rgit.” Shadow responded. “I made a promise, didn’t I?”
“Rayne loves Shadow. She remembers.” Rayne put her head on his shoulder. “Remembers it all, now.”
“R. Cobb!”
Shadow disappeared and Rayne stopped moving. She stayed perfectly still as seven soliders entered the garden, Dr. Lemm trailing behind them.
“Rayne, you’ve done well.” Dr. Lemm stated as he came abreast of her. “You should be proud.”
“Yes.” She said slowly. There was a far of look in her eyes and Dr. Lemm knew that Rayne was no longer speaking to him. “Yes, it’s still in her and she knows.” Rayne looked over at Dr. Lemm and smiled. “Everyone needs a ghost, she has many. She is his ghost, his ghost of a rose.”
Dr. Lemm did not reply he simply took Rayne’s hand and lend her away from the buring house and the rose graden.
Shadow
February 3, 2550
After a hard day’s work and a healthy night’s supper, Shadow Reynolds made his way up to his bedroom. When he entered, he sat on his bed, took of his boots, and showered. And as he did his nightly before bed preporations, he did it all in a room filled with white roses.
Shadow’s room had been filled with white roses everyday for nearly two years.
The Song:
The valley green was so serene
In the middle ran a stream so blue...
A maiden fair, in despair, once had met her true love there and she told him...
She would say...
"Promise me , when you see, a white rose you'll think of me
I love you so,
Never let go,
I will be your ghost of a rose..."
Her eyes believed in mysteries
She would lay amongst the leaves of amber
Her spirit wild, heart of a child, yet gentle still and quiet and mild and he loved her...
When she would say...
"Promise me , when you see, a white rose you'll think of me
I love you so,
Never let go,
I will be your ghost of a rose..."
When all was done, she turned to run
Dancing to the setting sun as he watched her
And ever more he thought he saw
A glimpse of her upon the moors forever
He'd hear her say...
"Promise me , when you see, a white rose you'll think of me
I love you so,
Never let go,
I will be your ghost of a rose..."