As usual, thanks to Mutant Enemy for the vision, all characters are the property of etc.

I really ought to be wrapping this thing up by now, shouldn't I? But it's been such fun! :)

Things Fall Apart - Chapter 10

Serenity

Simon hadn't been kept as busy since his residency days in a public hospital in downtown New Athens. Twelve badly wounded patients, all needing surgery - five of them major - meant that he didn't get a chance to think for a long time. He was aware that the Reavers had made it to the airlock before Serenity's shuttle could, and that Zoe and Xuan's security chief, Duvenage, had been forced to return without the others. After that, things blurred. One part of him continued to function - his body kept working on the blood and torn flesh and broken bones - but he couldn't seem to hear or feel anything. He knew that Kaylee was talking to him, looking at him with such compassion on her sweet face that he'd had to turn away, but he couldn't have repeated what she had said to him if his life had depended on it. None of it made any sense anymore. How could River be gone?

How could she be gone? He stared at the walls of his cabin where he'd retreated when he'd finally finished, trying to wrap his mind around the idea. He'd shut the door, refusing to allow anyone to comfort him. It didn't feel real, and comfort meant nothing if you felt nothing. Simon recognized this sensation. Despair was something he'd become familiar with in the two years he'd spent hunting for River in a universe suddenly unrecognizable, where the good guys were no longer the good guys and the bad guys were his only hope. It had been like some kind of bad net series, full of conspiracy theories and paranoia. In this 'verse, morals were a hindrance, but perversely that had given him an edge. They'd underestimated how far he was willing to go for his sister.

River was the only person who had loved him unconditionally, the only person he'd loved unconditionally in return. Somehow, deep down inside, they'd