There was a moment, breathless, rushing as the air parted. A meteoric ascension towards one small spark from amid the screaming inferno looming above, detached and blank before convergence. Nightmares wandered through the labyrinth; grasped, captured, victims dragged away trying to escape the needles and machines. Strapped them to tables in sterile rooms behind bolted steel.

They were pleased. A mistake had been corrected, and one of their more elusive subjects was within their grasp. Ten years of carnage ended . An accusation. There are many kinds of monsters out there. None better or worse than others, just more self-aware.

"I don't -" Feeble denial, spoken in tandem.

" Yes you do. I know you do ." Painful truth, haunted by the past. They could wake up from nightmares, but not from reality. Not from what they were and what they'd become.

Then she was River again, standing in the cold harsh-lit parallel. Outside they were planning, and waiting, as the lounge function demanded. She had to hurry. Prove them all wrong. They'd saved the dawn rose from the frost, and this time the spindle would wake her. She settled on the perch like a little bird and whispered in sleeping beauty's ear. "I'm going to tell you a story," she whispered.

- - - - -

Inara was lost. The abyss crushed around her so she couldn't breathe, couldn't speak. She was abandoned and alone, hostage to her fears. Sinister shapes hovered at the edges of her sight, and her only company was a repetitive echo, dripping water and a rhythmic beating rendered in electronics like a measure of her life.

" It's a fairy tale ," said the voice. " Because I'm -" A terrible piercing screech rose to drown out the explanation, like feedback from over the cortex, and a girl fluctuating between an alarming mix of children's laughter and sobbing.

" River ?" The thought filled the space around her like a shout. The air