“Mei mei,” he whispered when he was only a hands-breadth away. “What have you done?”

It was always the same. River took in the sight of her fallen comrades, a gut-twisting nausea rising in her throat. Why couldn’t she change the images? It wasn’t true, none of it. This had not come to pass. She had saved them all, saved Simon and Kaylee, Inara and the captain, Jayne and Zoe. They were safe.

Glancing down to the pile of bodies, she recognized the faces now: Kaylee, Zoe, Jayne, Wash, Book and the Captain. They were bleeding, their eyes frozen open in terror and pain. Dropping the sharp weapons from her hands, River covered her face to block out the images. When she pulled her hands away to plead with Simon for forgiveness, her vision was full of red. Her hands were covered in the sticky substance of the blood of her family.

The look of horror in his eyes was more than River could bear. In her mind she saw his disgust, saw him recoil as she reached out a bloody hand to him, saw the hardness in his gaze as he sealed his heart from her.

“Simon,” she whispered. He seemed not to hear her, as he leaned down and scooped up Kaylee’s dead form. “Simon!” She screamed it this time as he walked away from her, leaving her among the dead.

“Simon!”

“River, shh. It’s okay, mei mei. I’m here.”

River blinked rapidly, opening her eyes and banishing the vision from her sight. Her tears obscured her sight and it took her a few minutes to take in Simon’s concerned form sitting next to her. As she regained her senses, she heard his voice, whispering softly, felt his hand brush against her cheek and forehead, reassuring her that she was safe, that everyone was all right. She immediately felt her heart rate slow, her breathing return to normal as the fear from her nightmare fled her system.

“Do you remember what you were dreaming?” He asked the question so subtly River almost told him.

Realizing an instant before she would have confessed everything, she pulled her hand fro