I own nothing.

----

River could usually be found outside the medical bay window, watching the boy sleep. Zoë or Mal sometimes convinced her to eat with the crew, about as often as Simon or Kaylee convinced her to sleep in a bed instead of collapsing from exhaustion where she sat, or Jayne convinced her to spar or otherwise do something violent; when she was done, though, she'd always run right back to her spot by the boy.

None of the crew could understand her apparent devotion to this one boy. At first, they thought she was just concerned about the fact that he hadn't woken up yet, but neither had half of the other kids they had rescued from the Academy, and she didn't seem half as concerned about them. In fact, she seemed less concerned about those Academy escapees who were still asleep compared to those who were awake, whenever she asked about them. It was entirely too confusing to the crew, until Inara decided to take the Occam's Razor approach and just ask her.

"He dreams of Castle Camelot," River began. "It's the easiest way for him to sort out what's happening, and it always has been. Except he's getting it wrong." She paused. "Are you sure you want to know?"

"Of course I do, River," Inara said. "Maybe I'll be able to soothe your brother's mind, or maybe I'll be able to help. In any case, it can't hurt."

River sighed and then looked at Inara. "Maybe I should start at the beginning. Once upon a time, he was just David. In the same way as I was just River, of course; he was always special. Then the war came. Before, he was one of five thousand. After, he was alone.

"The war changed him in almost the same way it changed Mal. He was darker - harder. Cast iron. He had... something about him, too. Something the Alliance wanted. And... it was war, and they were used to the rules of war, so... they took it. They took him. They also tried to take... but you wouldn't believe me, and she'll look after it until we're ready. Didn't care that it was wrong. Didn't care about the