Firefly - “RAINBOW TEARS”

Written by Sarahannah Hopwood

Chapter 13

On the bridge of Serenity, Wash and Mal stare at their impending doom.  The ground rushes up to meet them.  The nose of Serenity is bulging from where she was hit.  Its making it difficult to see through the window clearly.  Wash is concentrating, his eyes set on the ground.  He ignores the blood that runs into his eyes.  Mal’s hand is gripped uncomfortably tight on Wash’s shoulder.

     Serenity bucks slightly, threatening to flip, but Mal stands firm.  Wash pulls at the yolk, keeping her from spinning wildly as she continues to pick up speed.  
“I’m sorry Mal, this is all my gorramn fault.  I should never have gotten you the job.  It was suicide.” Wash says calmly.

“My ship, my fault.  You’re an amazing pilot, Wash.” Mal replies giving Wash a friendly clap on the shoulder.  Wash grits his teeth, looking like he’s about to throw up.  Mal closes his eyes ready for impact.  But it never comes.  

     Wash pulls Serenity up roughly.  Feet from the ground she blasts back into the air, pulling out of her nosedive.  The Alliance Gunship doesn’t have time to pull up as Serenity pulls away.  The Gunship hit’s the ground and explodes on impact, throwing sand and metal into the air.  Serenity, although a little shaky and still smoking, heads once more for atmo, leaving its fallen opponent behind.


The crew is sat in the dining room, beaten, bruised and in some cases, still bleeding, but still alive.  Simon has had his work cut out and he’s patched everyone up, including himself.  Rem is sat in a spare chair looking sickly and pale.  Mal towers over her, his arms crossed, his face sullen.  
“Give me a good reason why I shouldn’t kill you.” he asks in a monotone.  Rem doesn’t look at him, but shrugs.  
“Don’t matter, my family is probably dead by now…so you may as well shoot me.” she mutters.  Jayne gets to his feet and reaches fro his gun with his good hand.  Surprisingly, Kaylee puts her hand on his arm gently and shakes her head.  Jayne looks down at her and puts his gun away, sitting down slowly.  Mal watches him take his seat and turns back to Rem.  
“I honestly don’t know what we’re gonna do with you.” he sighs.
“We should dump her outta the air lock.” Jayne mutters quietly.  Rem laughs hollowly.  Mal looks back at Rem once more, she has a pained smile on her face.  
“No…we find the closest planet and dump her.  Wash how far to the next planet?” Mal says turning to Wash who is sat tight lipped.
“Closest is Lilac.” Wash replies not looking at Rem.
“That’s where you get off then.” Mal says walking away from Rem.  She watches him coldly, her eyes slip over to Wash who at last meets her eyes.  She breaks away from his hate filled look and returns to staring back at her knee.  
“I tried to tell you.  I wanted to, but I just…I’m so sorry.” Rem mutters quietly in a mournful voice.  Mal ignores her and looks over to Jayne a small, dark smile on his face.  
“Put her in one of the spare rooms and lock it.” he says putting his hands on his hips.  Jayne pulls his face into a twisted grin.  He strides over to Rem and practically drags her towards the passenger rooms.  Once they’re out of the room, Wash buries his head in his hands.  
“Son of a…” he mutters.  Zoë squeezes his shoulder and follows Jayne, giving Mal a ‘don’t-even-think-about-stopping-me’ look.  Mal nods and turns away from her, looking back at his crew.

     Kaylee sadly watches Zoë go.  
“It wasn’t her fault you know.” she says in a small voice.  Everyone turns and stares at her, she stares back at them reproachfully.  
“The Alliance took her family…she was blackmailed.” she says in a tiny voice.  Mal nods in agreement, then raises his eyebrows and smiles slightly.  
“Which is why she ain’t dead.” Mal says quietly.


Serenity is parked up in the middle of nowhere, her engines still running.  Rem is sat in a heap on the ground, looking up at Serenity.  There’s a new bruise swelling up on her face.  As he ramp closes up, Zoë stares at her coldly through the gap in the closing doors.  As Serenity’s engines fire up, Rem holds her hand over her eyes to shield them from the sun.  She watches as Serenity glides upwards, shaky, but still flying true.  
“Goodbye old friend.” she mutters as Serenity hits atmo and disappears into the black.


Kaylee is straightening up the passenger rooms, changing the sheets of the bed.  River, still in her sari, is watching her from a corner of the room.  Kaylee pulls the sheets off the bed roughly and a small bag lands at River’s feet.  River picks it up and gives it a feel.  She hands it to Kaylee, who empties it out onto the bed.  It’s money.  An awful lot of money and with it is a hastily scribbled note.  
“Rem, she must have left it.” Kaylee says quietly.  She opens up the note and reads it.  She looks sadly down at the money.  
“She left it as an apology.” River says quietly.  Kaylee nods and stuffs the money back into the bag.  She leaves the bed in a tangle of sheets and walks through to the common area here Mal and Zoë are playing cards.  Mal nervously picks at the bandage on his arm as Zoë takes her turn.  
“Cap’n…Rem, she left this.” Kaylee says handing the bag over to Mal.  Zoë gives it a distrusting look.  Mal empties the contents onto the table and Zoë’s eyebrows shoot up.  Mal picks up the note.  
“’The other half of the money for the job.  Fix Serenity and keep flying.’” he reads out loud “Well…ain’t that something?” he mutters looking down at the money.


Rem pulls her coat around he tighter.  She’s huddled up, still staring up at the spot where Serenity broke atmo.  She holds her hand up, wrapped around it is a broken silver chain with a tear shaped pendant.  It’s Zoë’s opal necklace.  She watches it glint, throwing out a rainbow glow in the fading daylight.  Tears begin to run down her face.  Anger is etched over her face and her hands shake in rage.  She throws the necklace down and picks up a rock.  She smashes a the opal over and over again, letting out a primal roar.


River is sat alone in her room, writing frantically.  Suddenly she stops dead and looks up.  A smile spreads across her face.  
“No more bad look.” she mutters.  She sits as still as a statue for a while, still smiling to herself, then blinks and looks back down at her writing.  Continuing to write she beginning to hum an old Earth-That-Was lullaby.