It was dark inside Serenity.

The kind of cloying darkness that swallowed corners, regurgitated shadows and made her yearn for the warmth of sunlight on her skin. She crept through Serenity, careful not to stray from beneath the lights for fear that the shadows would leap out and grab her, pull her down into them and hold her prisoner.

It was dark inside Serenity, and only getting darker. Once, the ship was full of warmth and life and shone with sunlight borrowed from laughter and smiles and family. Bit by bit it faded and the shadows multiplied.

It started with Wash. Kaylee always thought he glowed brighter than any of the rest. Serenity loved him and wherever he went, she brightened. The bridge was never the same when he died. The darkness started there, bleeding into the edges and chilling the air.

They spent three days on Persephone, some two months after Miranda, and Zoe melted into the darkness one night. Kaylee had never dared imagine that she’d leave. She was tied to the Captain with bonds that were forged in the fires of war and couldn’t be torn asunder. They were supposed to need one another.

The shadows grew taller and deeper without a warrior to keep them at bay.

Inara was next, three months later. Kaylee cried when the shuttle was emptied of her things and filled with darkness. No trunks accident left behind for Possibility to linger. Kaylee closed the door and slammed the lock into place, trying to trap the dark inside so it couldn’t spread to the rest of Serenity.

She didn’t cry when Simon and River left only weeks after. Simon’s blue eyes filled with the darkness, trying to make her understand that they had to go. He didn’t need to explain because she already understood. River had whispered to her one evening a few days after Inara had gone, when they sat curled together beneath a blanket, warding off the dark, “Too dark, hurts the eyes. It hurts. He hurts, hurts us.“ She knew at that moment they would go, felt the knowledge of it feed the darkness and strengthen it.