Disclaimer: I do not own Firefly/Serenity, Joss Whedon does.

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River screamed, curled up in the corner of the cargo bay. Her head was in her hands and her nails dug into her scalp. Tears trailed down her cheeks leaving streaks in their wake. She sobbed raggedly between screams and shook her head, shying away from Kaylee’s touch as the young mechanic tried desperately to calm River.

Simon and the rest of the crew were out on a job and so in the young doctor’s absence, Kaylee had taken over trying to comfort River as she pitched one of her usual fits. She shushed the younger girl gently, trying her best to reassure her that she was completely safe there. She swallowed thickly, however, at the same time afraid that what the girl was panicking about was something that had gone wrong on the job.

“Come on, River, it’s alright,” Kaylee cooed. “You’re safe, everyone’s alright, they’ll be back soon.”

“No, the shadows, they’re overwhelming me, they’re blocking out the light,” River whimpered. “Deception, disgrace, darkness, dread, doom...”

“There ain’t no shadows here, River, just us,” Kaylee soothed.

River shook her head and continued to shy away from Kaylee, whose hands had settled lightly on her shoulders. Darkness was falling, the eclipse was coming, she couldn’t escape the coming shadow. It was obscuring the light and making everything cold. She shivered and continued to cry, her eyes shut tightly. If she couldn’t see it coming, maybe it wouldn’t come at all.

Just then, a sound could be heard in the distance. Only Kaylee heard it, however. River was still too shaken by her fit to be much more than hysterical. The sound came closer with every minute and soon the mule sped into view. It glided into the cargo bay with Wash hitting the shut off on the ignition just in time to keep from hitting the crates at the back of the room.

As soon as the crew returned from their job and reached Serenity, Simon jumped from the mule