Rayne Fic: Reborn - The Beginning

[fairandbright]

Title: The Beginning
Series: Reborn
Author: nutmeg610
Rating: R (for nasty, bloody, graphic descriptions and character death)
Summary: Even story has a beginning... Chronologically, the first part in the series.
Notes: This series deals with River and Jayne living by themselves off the ship. So I guess you could call that AU if you want. If you don't like that sort of thing, feel free to skip on by. :)

Round Up Post






Translations:
Guai guai long de dong? - What the hell?
Wo de ma. - Mother of God
tian xiao de - name of all that's sacred
gou cao de wang ba dan de biao zi - dog humping whores of sons of bitches

"C'mon, Inara, ya ain't a Companion no more." Jayne whined. "Tell us a funny whorin' story."

Inara pursed her lips, trying to look stern, but only suceeding in looking amused at the mercenary. "Former Companion or not, I still abide by a strict confidentiality code. So give it up."

Jayne grumbled under his breath and lifted his cup of whiskey to his mouth. Around the dining table, the crew of Serenity sat, finishing up their evening meal and telling funny stories.

Kaylee bounced happily in her seat beside Simon. She loved when the crew sat as a family and shared stories. Looking at River, who was seated next to Jayne, she beamed. "River's turn!"

"Me?" River questioned, tilting her head.

"Yeah. Don't you got any funny stories from... from way back when you was a kid?" Kaylee didn't want River to be left out of the storytelling, but she didn't want to bring up any unpleasant memories of River's time at the Academy, so she decided to use the phrase, 'way back,' hoping River knew that she didn't mean any harm.

River smiled at her friend and tapped her fingers against her lips in thought. "Well... let's see. Funny story..." She paused and looked at her brother across the table. "I can't think of any. Do you remember...?"

Simon looked thoughtful for a moment before a smile spread across his face. "What about the time you dunked Michael Wentworth's head in the punchbowl at his sister's sweet sixteen?"

"Oh yes!" River said excitedly, clapping her hands.

Jayne snorted and looked at her beside him. "Ya really dunked a guy's head in punch?"

River shrugged. "He was getting fresh with me. Tried to sneak a feel under my skirt. So I grabbed him by his tie with one hand, grabbed the back of his head with the other, and pushed his head in the bowl. He needed to cool off."

The table erupted with laughter. Inara had to wipe the tears from her eyes, and Jayne slapped the tabletop.

"Damn, girl!" Jayne exclaimed after he had calmed down. "Didn't know ya had it in ya."

"Neither did our parents." Simon mused with a grin. "They were so scandalized." He rolled his eyes at their uppity parents.

"What'd they do?" Kaylee asked in a hushed voice with wide eyes.

River's smile fell away. "Oh. They took me out of my school's ballet program that year as punishment for my actions. Them doing that was one of the reasons I decided to transfer to the-- the Academy. There, they promised I would still be allowed to dance."

Silence fell around the table at her mention of the Academy. Simon looked at her guiltly. "I'm sorry mei-mei. I shouldn't have picked that story."

River shook her head quickly. "No, Simon, it's fine. I'm... fine." At his doubtful look she started to add, "Really--" but was cut off from saying more by the ship's alarm going off.

Everyone jumped and Mal slid his chair back. "Prob'ly just another ship nearby. We're close ta atmo after all. I'll check it out." He walked up to the bridge as the rest of them looked awkwardly between themselves for a moment.

Finally Kaylee smiled good-naturedly and said, "So... Zoe, it's yer turn. Any funny stories ta share?"

The former soldier wracked her brain, trying to think of a funny story from her time in the war. She especially tried to think of one that embarrassed Mal, because her Captain or not, she loved getting a few good jabs in every once and awhile.

She had just opened her mouth to speak when Mal's voice crackled on the comm. "Zoe, River, an' Jayne, git up here now. Everyone else jus' sit tight."

Confused glances were thrown around the table as the three noisily pushed their chairs back and hurried to the bridge, leaving Simon, Kaylee, and Inara behind. Entering the bridge, they found Mal standing over the Cortex screen behind the pilot's chair, a grim look on his face.

"River, take us off autopilot now. We got a situation."

River quickly slid into the pilot's seat and switched it off. "Where to?"

"Still tryin' ta figure that out." he muttered, looking at the screen. "Jus' go somewhere fast."

"Sir, what's the situation?" Zoe asked.

"Git us down on the moon, Albatross." Mal continued. A second later a blast passed over the ship, close to hitting the top. The three crew still standing jumped slightly.

"Guai guai long de dong?" Jayne yelled. "Who's shootin' at us?"

"Niska's men." Mal muttered, turning towards Jayne and Zoe. He crossed his arms over his chest. "They caught up to us, sent me a wave sayin' they wanna board. Said if I didn't comply, they'd fire a warnin' shot, then if I still didn't, they'd blow us outta the sky."

"Well, hell, let 'em board!" Jayne argued. Zoe and Mal glared at him and he frowned. "What? They prob'ly jus' wanna smack Mal around s'more. Why risk all our lives?"

Mal took a step closer to Jayne and said seriously, "We let 'em board, they ain't leavin' til they torture each an' every one 'a us." Jayne swallowed heavily, but held Mal's gaze. "Now, I want you to git down to yer bunk and weapon up, jus' in case it comes ta that. But Plan A is fer us to outrun 'em."

Jayne nodded and hurried down to his bunk, plucking Vera off the wall. "Well, ol' girl," he muttered, pulling out a box of ammo, "looks like ya may see some action today." Just then, the ship shook violently, and he struggled to keep his balance. "If we don't git knocked outta the sky first." he added, loading Vera and grabbing Boo off the wall too, sticking him in his holster.

Coming up the ladder, the ship pitched violently and his side slammed against the wall leading out of his bunk. "Ruttin' hell!" he yelled out, jumping into the hallway and running back to the bridge. The others that had been left in the mess were gathered together as River steered the ship, trying to avoid being hit. They were within sight of their intended destination, a small speck of a moon with only a few colonies on it. It was about as 'Rim' as a moon could get, and Mal sat in the co-pilot's chair, looking at the Cortex screen, looking for a settlement. Finding one, he called out the coordinates to River and she adjusted the wheel accordingly.

"Dammit, Mal, ya lettin' the girl fly us through this?" Jayne said incredulously.

"Jayne, I'd appreciate you shuttin' the hell up right about now." Mal ground out, flipping switches. "We can't stay out here, River. They git a hit and we try to go through atmo, we'll blow up. Git us down."

"Yes, Captain." she answered, with a white-knuckled grip on the controls.

Kaylee held onto Simon's waist as he in turn held onto the back of River's seat. He had strapped her in when they had entered, and now he didn't want to be far from her. Inara stood, like Simon, behind Mal's chair, her elegantly manicured and painted nails gripping onto the fabric tightly. Zoe stood next to the co-pilot's console, one hand on the console, the other on her holster.

River guided the ship through atmo and everyone breathed a sigh of relief. That is, until a blast hit the back of the ship and alarms started going off as everyone was pitched forward.

"Gorammit!" Mal yelled. "Everyone go sit down an' strap in!" Inara moved through the door first, Kaylee trying to pull Simon with her.

"River!" he yelled, not wanting to leave her.

Jayne grabbed the young doctor by the shoulder and spun him around. "Cap'n said strap in, an' unless ya wanna be smeared across the windshield, I'd say do it." He gave Simon a shove towards the door, and Simon looked back once before running towards the mess to where the only other seats with safety belts were.

Once Jayne entered the mess, holding Vera to his chest, everyone else was taking their seats and strapping in. It was his job in emergency situations to make sure they were all strapped in correctly so he quickly leaned over each of them, yelling, "Check!" before he sat down and clinked his own belt closed, still holding Vera tightly.

Up on the bridge, Mal's fingers hovered over the controls for the backup power. He wasn't going to fumble to find it like last time, when Serenity was crippled by the Reavers.

"River, where we at powerwise?"

River's eyes left the sky for a split second as she checked the screen. "They didn't take the engine out yet."

A blast pitched the ship down nose-first and more alarms sounded. "Spoke too soon." she muttered, the screen showing her that they were losing power. The storage boxes in the front of the bridge began sliding around as Mal set the backup power and took hold of the controls. Together, he and River struggled to regain control. The ship wasn't sure what it wanted to do, and started bucking around in the sky like a bronco at the rodeo. A storage box went flying by Mal's head and landed near where Zoe was seated behind him.

"Gorram boxes!" Mal shouted. "Knew we shoulda strapped 'em down earlier!"

Suddenly, Zoe undid her belt and stood. "I'm on it, sir!" she yelled back, fumbling for the stairs to lock them down.

"Zoe, no! Git yer ass back in yer seat!"

Another blast hit the ship and she went flying forward. River screamed and tried to focus past everyone's fear washing over her.

In the mess, the dinnerware was flying across the room. A plate went spinning like a frisbee and struck Inara in the ankle. She let out a cry of pain and Simon started to undo his belt.

"Don't you dare, Doc!" Jayne yelled, and Inara held her hand out.

"No, Simon, I'm fine."

Kaylee was crying out, "Oh God, oh God!" and reached her hands out. One grabbed Simon's, to her right, and Inara's to her left. On Inara's left was Jayne, and he hugged Vera tighter as the ship went into a sickening spin.

Then the top of the ship was struck and ceiling panels started falling down, frayed wires and pipes flying everywhere. Jayne was hit by something in the side of his head, and the last thing he heard before passing out were the women's screams.

******************************************************

When Jayne woke up, he felt pain all over, but especially in his head where he was hit, and his stomach and chest where the seatbeat held him firmly down. He was bent forward over his knees as far as the seatbelt reached, and as he opened his eyes he could see Vera lying at his feet.

Groaning, he sat back and let his eyes adjust to the dim light. The lamps that usually sat on the table were gone, and the only light was coming from the dim emergency lights in the ceiling panels that were still up, and through the window above.

He heard labored sobs beside him, and rolling his head to the side, he saw Inara doubled over in pain. Quickly undoing his belt, he knelt in front of her and slowly pushed her to sit back.

"Where's it hurt, 'Nara?" he asked, trying to ignore his own pains.

Inara's mascara was smudged across her face, and her tears had created a dark trail down her cheeks. "Everywhere." she whispered, her voiced laced with agony.

Jayne's eyes did a quick once over, trying to see where she was hurt, but he couldn't see anything. "Doc," he called out, "Doc, 'Nara's hurt."

He turned his head to get Simon, but when he saw Kaylee and Simon, he had to shut his eyes and turn away as his stomach lurched.

"Wo de ma." he whispered, voice shaking.

"Mal..." Inara murmured.

Jayne opened his eyes and focused on her, slumped back in her seat.

"Where's Mal?" she continued.

Jayne swallowed hard and forced himself to look back at the young lovers. Simon was turned in his seat, his right arm spread protectively across Kaylee's midsection. But it hadn't protected her enough. There was a jagged hunk of metal, most likely from the ceiling, pinning Kaylee's middle. And not only that, but it was pinning Simon's arm to her.

Turning away from the scene, Jayne shuffled on his knees and braced his hands on the floor, dry heaving. He managed to control himself, and heard Inara's weak voice again.

"Kaylee...answer me."

Jayne swallowed and turned back. Inara's eyes were closed, arms at her side and still slumped down in her seat. He looked left, focusing on Kaylee and Simon's closed eyes, and not their wounds.

Moving forward, he said, "In the tian xiao de..."

When Simon suddenly moaned, Jayne jumped back.

"River...?"

Jayne put a hand over his racing heart. "Doc? Can ya hear me?"

"River... is she alright?" he murmured, struggling to open his eyes. Doing so, he saw the scene before him. "No." he whimpered. "Kaylee, no."

"Doc, stay with me." Jayne said. He wanted to put his hand on the younger man's shoulder, but figured that would send pain shooting through his injured arm, so he restrained himself.

"Jayne?"

"Right here, Doc."

"Find my... River. Find her."

Jayne swallowed the feeling crawling up his throat. "What do I do?" he asked helplessly. "What do I do about y'all?"

"Nothing." Simon whispered. "Too late. Save my sister. Please. Please go."

"What if I can't save her?" Jayne answered, but Simon had closed his eyes.

"Please..." the doctor whispered again. Jayne sat back on his heels, panic sweeping through him. He glanced back at Inara. She wasn't moving. He shuddered, and came close to heaving again, but he fumbled for Vera and stood on shaky feet. He had no idea where they were, or what was happening outside. He didn't know if Niska's men were boarding at that moment to pick them off.

Stumbling through the mess, Jayne made his way up towards the bridge. He had hoped to hear Mal's voice barking orders, or Zoe's cool, calm voice, or even the crazy girl's babble, but he was met with an eerie silence. He could see the red emergency lights shining out at him and he picked up the pace.

As he moved up the stairs, the first thing he saw was that the pilot's chair was gone. Just... gone. Coming up a few more steps, he saw it lying a few feet closer to the door, River still strapped in it.

He ran up the stairs and through the doorway, dropping Vera and kneeling beside the girl. He saw the metal swivel leg had snapped off, though he had no idea how, and River's skirt was up around her thighs. He pulled it back down and checked her for bloody injuries. There were a few scrapes and cuts, but nothing he could see as serious, unless she had smacked her head off the floor, which was a possibility. He didn't see a pool of blood behind her head, however, so with a shaking hand, he moved her mass of hair back from her face, and prayed he wouldn't see her lifeless eyes staring back at him.

He was met with her closed eyes and, swallowing hard, he pressed two fingers to her neck. A steady pulse greeted him, and let out a deep breath.

"Girl... girl? C'mon, wake up. River!" He tapped her on the cheek several times and was seriously considering slapping her when she moaned. Jayne's heart started racing. "Wake up, gorammit!"

River whimpered and slowly opened her eyes. "Paper airplanes fall back to the ground."

"Snap outta it girl, we got problems." Jayne growled. He had to act angry, because it was the only thing keeping him from breaking down at what he'd just seen, or from grabbing her and hugging her to his chest in relief that she was alive.

"We broke." River cried out softly. "Jayne, are you broken?"

"Nah, I'm fine." he said quickly. "Can ya move yer legs?"

River twisted her foot and nodded slowly.

"Good. Let's getcha outta this thing." He unstrapped her and slid his arms around her back, pulling her from the chair and placing her on the floor next to it.

"Simon...?" she asked him, wincing in pain.

Jayne ignored her. "We gotta check on Mal 'n Zoe first. An' gotta make sure them hun dans ain't waiting out there fer us."

"Help me up." she whispered.

"Ya sure?"

"Do it."

Jayne let a scowl loose across his face as he stood and lifted her to her feet. She moved over to the screens to the right of the pilot's console and began tapping the screen, muttering as she did so. "Cut off the fuel tanks so fire doesn't start... turn off all but auxillary power... there are no ships around us. Those men shot us down and then fled."

Suddenly, Jayne realized that instead of staring at her turned back like an idiot, he should check on Mal and Zoe. Whirling around, he saw Mal bent over the controls.

"Ruttin' hell..." he hissed, moving over and pulling Mal back. There was a deep gash on his forehead, and blood trickling down his face. A quick press of fingers against his pulse point confirmed to Jayne that his Captain was already gone.

"Jayne?" River whispered. Turning back, River looked from Mal to the mercenary with question in her eyes. Jayne shook his head and River bumped back against the console, tears in her eyes. Looking away, she glanced down at the space in the front of the bridge. Letting out a cry, her knees buckled and she reached her hands behind her to hold herself up. Jayne looked to see what had upset her, and saw Zoe lying face down on the floor.

He moved down the steps and knelt besides Zoe. Gently rolling her over, he saw a scrape and large lump across her forehead. He checked for a pulse, and again, was met with nothing at all. Jayne looked back up at River, who was slowly stepping backwards towards the doorway.

"Gone, gone, all gone." she said. "Paper airplanes always crash and burn. Burn into ashes. Paper to ashes; ashes to dust." Jayne stood and slowly stepped over to the stairs.

"Girl--"

"Ashes to ashes, dust to dust!" she cried out, her voice shrill. Her eyes widened. "Simon?" Before he could stop her, she turned and ran out of the bridge.

"Girl! You git back here! Don't!" He chased after her, but he wasn't fast enough, and by the time he reached the entryway to the mess, he could hear her screams reverberate across the ghost ship.

"Don't!" he yelled again, seeing her waver before falling to her knees in the middle of the floor. He came over and tried to get his arms around her, but she wriggled out of his grasp and tried crawling across the floor, body shaking, chest heaving. Jayne fell to his knees behind her and grabbed her around her middle.

"I said, don't!" he yelled, pulling her back against him. His arms accidentally hit where her seatbelt had dug into her, and she cried out, sagging into his embrace. "Close yer eyes, don't look." he continued, lifting one hand up to shield her eyes.

River was gasping for breath, struggling not to throw up. "They may still be... go check. Maybe not gone. Please, go."

Jayne forced himself to look up and study the three in the chairs carefully. He saw none of them breathing. "It's too late, girl. Too late."

"No!" she cried out, letting her arms collapse and falling forward, Jayne being the only thing holding her body up from the floor. "You have to check! Please! Please?"

Jayne ran his hand back soothingly through her hair. "Okay, okay. You stay right here. Don't come closer, an' don't look."

He saw her nod and he gently lowered her onto the floor on her stomach. She curled into a ball as Jayne stood and moved back over to his crewmates. He checked Inara first, but she was gone; had probably gone while he was talking to Simon. He hesitated before checking Kaylee, her soft hair brushing against his hand, and causing him to shudder again. He hadn't expected a pulse, and didn't get one. He wasn't sure what he and River would do if Kaylee did have one. Finally moving onto Simon, he checked and was met with the same response as the others. Nothing. He sat back on his heels in shock. How was it possible? How could he and River be the only ones left?

Turning back, he stood and went over to River, collecting her off the floor. "I checked." he stated quietly, and he didn't need to say anything more before River threw herself against his chest and sobbed. He rubbed her back and squeezed her tightly. Maybe too tightly, but he didn't care. He had to be sure she was actually there and that he wasn't really all alone. He quickly thought about where they could go to sit down. They certainly couldn't stay where they were.

"C'mon," he said, tugging her, "we're going downstairs."

"But--" she murmured weakly, unable to think of a response.

"Now." he stated, gently pushing her ahead of him towards the back hallway. She walked on shaky legs down the hall, Jayne a step behind. She began stumbling, and Jayne grabbed her waist, steadying her.

"I--I can do it." she said, placing her hand over his and pulling it away. He released her, and she started down the stairs, gripping the railing tightly. Halfway down, she stopped and turned her head over the side, throwing up. Jayne started gagging in response, but managed to hold his dinner down.

"It's okay. Yer okay." Jayne said, knowing that nothing was okay, but having nothing else to say.

After she finished, she wavered, and her knees gave out again. Jayne was immediately there to grab her.

"Jayne..." she whimpered. "I have a concussion..."

"It's okay." Jayne answered.

"Grade one or grade two..." she continued.

He lifted her up into his arms and carefully moved down the stairs. "We'll go to the infirmary." He carried her down the rest of the way and, once they entered the infirmary, set her on the exam chair.

"Don't let me forget..." she whispered.

"Forget what?"

"The crash." she answered. "Victims of a concussion generally have temp... temporary amnesia."

Jayne glanced around as he stood over her. The infirmary was trashed, medical supplies strewn about everywhere. "What do I do?"

"Your head." River whispered.

"What?"

"You're bleeding. Please, fix your head. Don't leave me alone."

Jayne touched his head where it had been throbbing since he woke up. He felt sticky blood coat his fingertips. He turned and went over to the sink, but when he turned it on, no water came out.

"Have to manually turn the water back on." River murmured, rolling herself onto her feet. "I forgot." Jayne turned around to see her struggling to walk over to him. He quickly reached her as, yet again, her knees gave out.

"Ya can't move around." Jayne said, starting to put her back onto the chair. River moaned and dug her nails into his arms.

"No! Not here. Not in here. I hate it in here. Out there. The couch. Please."

Jayne nodded and lifted her up again. The couch had pulled away from the wall but was still upright. He kicked it back away from the table as River pressed her palm to his face.

"You sit down too."

Jayne was so tired and in such pain, he wasn't going to argue with her. He slowly lowered himself down with River nestled in his lap. She wriggled out of her hooded sweatshirt and pressed the sleeve against his forehead. He let out a hiss of pain and closed his eyes as she cleaned his wound.

"I don't git it." he murmured, at a complete lose. "Why didn't I-- Mal had a cut on his head, same as me. Why wasn't it me?"

"Shhh..." River whispered, continuing to tend to him.

"It ain't right; shoulda been me. Shouldn't 'a been--"

River dropped her sweatshirt and slid her arms around his neck. "Stop... Jayne, stop." she whispered. She bent her head down and cried against his neck. Jayne squeezed his eyes shut as he felt something break within him. He gripped River tightly around the back and pressed his cheek against the top of her head. All thoughts of taking charge and staying strong for her flew out the window as tears leaked out of his tightly closed eyes and into her hair. He kept telling himself that he wasn't really crying but knew it was an obvious lie.

He could feel her tears roll down his neck and onto his shirt collar. She let out short gasps of hot air against his Adam's apple. Jayne started rocking the both of them gently on the couch as they continued crying.

"W-What do we do?" Jayne stuttered out. "What the hell do we do?"

River gasped against him. "No... can't, not now. Please, not now."

"I'm sorry." Jayne whispered. It was the first time he'd ever apologized to her about anything, and he felt her dig her nails into the back of his head.

"No, I'm sorry." she said. "I did it. I crashed the ship. I killed them all."

Jayne reared his head back and grabbed her face in one hand. "No! You did not do this! They did! Those no good gou cao de wang ba dan de biao zi did this. Not you!"

River's body shook in his embrace as she nodded, scared by the sight of his red eyes and tears on his cheeks. He let go of her face and pulled her back against him, continuing to rock back and forth.

Loosening her grip on his head, River slid her hands down to his shoulders. "Oh please, Jayne. Please don't leave me all alone."

Jayne slid a hand up her back and lowered his lips to her ear. "Won't leave ya."

"Promise." she whispered, tucking her head into the crook of his neck. "Promise me."

"I promise... times infinity." he assured, rubbing his hands across her back in soothing circles. They were silent for a moment, until River started crying again. Jayne bit down hard on the inside of his cheek, trying to head off his own tears, but failing. He buried his face into her hair, the only sound on the ship being the sound of their combined sobs.

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