Bedlam: Part 12B

My attempt at a season finale--this is part 2.

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It’s Joss’s verse--I just borrow it.

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She was just a girl, a pretty, big-eyed, wild-haired girl. A laughing girl who played with Kaylee, teased her brother merciless, nicked food from Jayne’s plate. A brilliant girl who meddled in minds, saw the future. A dangerous girl who stood before them now, blood on her hands, her dress, the tips of her hair. A sad, beautiful girl who looked at Mal mournfully, as though he could somehow fix this, make it better.

He couldn’t do a gorram thing.

“Good God,” Gray murmured. He moved toward the closet.

“God ain’t no where near this,” Mal muttered. He watched as one of the troops gestured with his gun for River to sit on the floor, knelt gingerly to shackle her hands.

Gray stepped out of the closet, cleaned his palms on a handkerchief from his pants pocket.

“Lord in Heaven, its true.” He stared at the small, shivering figure of the girl on the floor. “She’s the one.”

“Didn’t have to put her through that to prove it,” Mal said, voice low and furious. “This ain’t the first time she’s cleaned up an Alliance mess.”

“It was rumored to be so.” Gray knelt by River, brushed a strand of wet hair out of her face. “I had to be sure, Captain Reynolds. A great many lives depend on my being sure.”

“Well, you found your assassin, Agent Gray. Can’t say I agree with the Alliance usin’ innocent little girls to do their dirty work. What do they want her for anyhow? Rub out some political rivals? Squash a rebellion on a border moon? What’s a man like you consider just cause for torturin’ teenagers?”

“Captain Reynolds, do you know what your problem is?”

Mal snorted a laugh.

“Which one?”

“You gave up on humanity long ago. Was it the War that did it? Or did it happen after, when life insisted on going on after the Browncoats failed?”

“At least I don’t have to look in the mirror and lie to my own self to get through the day. Ain’t lyin for nobody else neither.”

“What is tr