Aftershock
Title: Aftershocks
Prompt: #91 Execute
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 383
Title: Aftershocks
Prompt: #91 Execute
Author: Cricket
Disclaimer: I’m just playing with Joss’ toys, but I promise to put them back when I’m done
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 382
They thought the wake of Miranda would soften Jayne, make him realize how important family was and that you had to hold on to whatever bit of home you could find.
But it didn’t.
The hard edge that had kept him alive for so long sharpened to an almost razor sharpness that would cut deeply into anyone who tried to get through to him. Even his thoughts were wrapped in barbed wire that stabbed like needles into River’s brain when he was near.
His only laughter was cruel and ridiculing. Whatever spark of warmth that had survived past his childhood was snuffed out. He refused even his mother’s packages and letters, ignored her pleading requests to hear word from her eldest son, to know if he was alive. Money no longer trickled into Vera Cobb’s house and instead found itself tucked into the pockets of desperate whores crying themselves through their humiliation after he was finished with them.
On jobs Jayne was brutal. He’d never had many qualms about hurting people before, but now he seemed to enjoy the screams of pain and the crunch of bone under his fist. His gun hand was faster than ever; he shot often and accurately, though it didn’t always seem so. A bullet to the neck when one to the head would have sufficed, leaving the opponent gurgling and glassy-eyed made some crew members question his eyesight. Simon was baffled when he found Jayne to have perfect vision.
A cold stone veneer covered his face. His passionate red attitude towards life turned an icy blue. It wouldn’t have surprised River in the least if his very blood had turned to sapphires as sharp and hard and coldly beautiful as his eyes had become.
But she knew he looked better in red and she missed the fiery heat that had burned through him. She’d been scalded by him before, but burns were easier to treat than frostbite.
Jayne needed to be broken; it was the only way. That much she knew. With his walls destroyed and his towers crumbled to dust, the tiny glowing ember of humanity left buried within could be saved. He needed to be brought to the brink of death once more to face the dark frozen nothing that had become his soul.
River tucked the shiny little pistol into the pocket of her dress and with a steadying breath, descended the ladder to the sleeping man below.
Prompt: #91 Execute
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 383
Title: Aftershocks
Prompt: #91 Execute
Author: Cricket
Disclaimer: I’m just playing with Joss’ toys, but I promise to put them back when I’m done
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 382
They thought the wake of Miranda would soften Jayne, make him realize how important family was and that you had to hold on to whatever bit of home you could find.
But it didn’t.
The hard edge that had kept him alive for so long sharpened to an almost razor sharpness that would cut deeply into anyone who tried to get through to him. Even his thoughts were wrapped in barbed wire that stabbed like needles into River’s brain when he was near.
His only laughter was cruel and ridiculing. Whatever spark of warmth that had survived past his childhood was snuffed out. He refused even his mother’s packages and letters, ignored her pleading requests to hear word from her eldest son, to know if he was alive. Money no longer trickled into Vera Cobb’s house and instead found itself tucked into the pockets of desperate whores crying themselves through their humiliation after he was finished with them.
On jobs Jayne was brutal. He’d never had many qualms about hurting people before, but now he seemed to enjoy the screams of pain and the crunch of bone under his fist. His gun hand was faster than ever; he shot often and accurately, though it didn’t always seem so. A bullet to the neck when one to the head would have sufficed, leaving the opponent gurgling and glassy-eyed made some crew members question his eyesight. Simon was baffled when he found Jayne to have perfect vision.
A cold stone veneer covered his face. His passionate red attitude towards life turned an icy blue. It wouldn’t have surprised River in the least if his very blood had turned to sapphires as sharp and hard and coldly beautiful as his eyes had become.
But she knew he looked better in red and she missed the fiery heat that had burned through him. She’d been scalded by him before, but burns were easier to treat than frostbite.
Jayne needed to be broken; it was the only way. That much she knew. With his walls destroyed and his towers crumbled to dust, the tiny glowing ember of humanity left buried within could be saved. He needed to be brought to the brink of death once more to face the dark frozen nothing that had become his soul.
River tucked the shiny little pistol into the pocket of her dress and with a steadying breath, descended the ladder to the sleeping man below.