The Monster Within

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based on the world of Firefly by Joss Whedon

Food.... its mind raced as the collective whole moved through the hallways, searching. It could smell them, four deliciously warm meals just standing there waiting for the right moment for them to partake of the sweet flow in their veins. Food....

Waiting....'Ski hated to wait, and more than that he hated having to protect her people against the beast she became. He could deal with her alone, 'twas easy enough, but with the confounded Captain she always went on about, breathing down his neck...that might make it a bit harder. Damn her and the things she got him into. Had he have been smart, something he was most of the time, he'd have turned her in and let the Alliance try to deny what these men playing god were doing, but instead, she saved his fucking life. Only one other had ever done that, even if it was something he didn't want done. God, he hated waiting.

Worry...Mal paced watching the shadows wondering what could be so bad that the woman he cared for thought he would hate her. She had saved his life and that of Zoe more times than he could count and it had just about killed him when he found the note and her dog tags next to his duffel. If it weren't for Serenity and maybe even Inara a bit, he'd still be in the dark hole she and the loss of the war had caused. He damned himself for thinking again that Cat would return to his side as a woman and not a weapon. Maybe that was the appeal of Inara, the fact she was all woman, but then again, Inara might have been just a little too much. Mal hated worrying....

Guilt...My god, she had been right. Inara looked toward where Cat had disappeared, her canary or at least she had been so many years before. Her thoughts reminded her of the young woman who she taught to sing and dance and just be a lady. She had been so sad and distant, talk of torture and needles going on and on as they laughed about nothing. Inara hadn't believed her, but who cou