TITLE: "PHOENIX RISING"

AUTHOR: Alison M. DOBELL

FANDOM: "FIREFLY"

PAIRING: RIVER/MAL.

RATING: PG-13.

STATUS: New. SEQUEL to "ASHES"

ARCHIVE: Yes. Just let me know where.

FEEDBACK: Welcomed.

EMAIL: AlisonMDobell@aol.com

WEBSITE: http://carlajane.50megs.com/Ali00.html

SUMMARY: "The job on Rainbow goes well. Zoe cannot shake off the feeling that this is all wrong. Jayne keeps watch while the connection between River and the Captain deepens."

The usual disclaimers apply. The characters and 'Firefly' are the property and gift of Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy.

No infringement of copyright is intended.

"PHOENIX RISING"

A "Firefly" story

Written by Alison M. DOBELL

* * * * *

There really was pretty much nothing of worth left standing on Hera. Didn't stop them coming though. More it seemed with each passing year. Singly or in groups made no difference. A patchwork of folk drawn from all corners of the 'verse that was. Some with anxious eyes skipping from nondescript view to empty war ravaged plains. Winds whipped unbroken across a land that was suffering still. Her few trees uprooted or burned down. Her peaceful valleys like a landfill where the bodies of the dead lay unblessed and un-numbered. The crude earth heaped over shattered bone and ripped flesh like some grainy blanket blocking out the view of Hell while Heaven looked down and lifted not one finger nor shed one tear of remorse. The impalacable eye of God a thing beyond mortal understanding. Or so it seemed to them as were left. Those with a burden to carry that could never be laid to rest.

Tyrone Garvin clamped his teeth tight together. So hard it would have made his jaw ache had he been in a mind to be thinking on it. His thoughts were as blurry as his eyes, wrapped in memories that hurt him more than gorram shrapnel. Heart all contracted and painful. Not so much with memories of the past but the future unfurling uncertainly before them like a flag th