Title : Goodnight and Goodbye (1/2)

Disclaimer : I am not Joss Whedon, and I do not own Firefly.

Synopsis: The Second War of Unification has started. Where does the crew of Serenity go next? Darkish.

Pairings : Mal/Inara, and hints of Jayne/Kaylee, Simon/Inara, Zoe/Wash, and Simon/Kaylee.

Spoilers : Through the BDM.

Rating : PG

Words : 3, 325

***

Mal doesn’t believe Miranda was the cause of the second war of unification. Just the way of things, is all. Empires don’t last forever—first lesson of history his Ma ever taught him and it’s not a lesson he’ll be forgetting anytime soon.

Some say the Alliance never won the war in the first place, and Mal reckons there’s some sense to that. It’s a big ‘verse, and the Alliance proved time and again they didn’t have the manpower to police every inch of it.

It isn’t Miranda that started the war, but it sure as hell made a rallying cry. Mal can say with certainty that he wasn’t looking to start another war that day. He just wanted the truth.

Still, war it is—burning hulks of bombed buildings in Sihnon and Londinium prove it. Independents are smarter this time around. Causing fear first. Attacking innocents.

Truth is, won’t ever be that same war again, down in the pits of Hera, at Serenity. He likes to think he’s come a way since then—built himself a life.

***

They gather in the galley, the scratching of their chairs against the floor the only noise. Mal studies each of his crew in turn, taking a moment before speaking.

Jayne, staring down into his mug, uncharacteristically silent. Zoe, unsurprised, knowing lines etched into her face. Simon, determined, his calm almost unnerving. Little Kaylee, eyes wide, bottom lip protruding.

“We’re looking at a war,” Mal says, finally, voice too loud in the quiet of the galley.

Only Kaylee reacts. “How can you be sure?” she says, face telling him she’s not ready for things to change, that they can go on, no matter what sort of craziness the ‘verse throws a