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The truth had driven her mad. Now she had been set free.

Before she would sometimes stagger under the onslaught of thoughts and emotions bombarding her brain; a mixture of sights and sounds and smells transmitted so quickly that her nervous system often failed to integrate them. She would be in a constant state of confusion, the precious moments of clarity so sweet, but too brief. It was at times like this that she savoured the astonished faces of the crew members, proud that she had won the struggle—however short-lived—for control of her mind. They were the good days.

On the bad days, these sensations tumbled together with memories of her time at the academy. Those were the times when she awoke in the middle of the night, sharp needles and flashing lights still vivid in her mind's eye. Memories of being treated like a lab rat flooded to the surface; of being referred to as "the Subject"—of being driven beyond the limits of her physical, mental and emotional capabilities, making her scream and cry out for them to stop, please stop.

Yet they could not stop her from learning the truth. Over time they grew lazy; she was no longer a wild animal, but a tamed beast, and they relaxed their minds. Their thoughts slammed into her mind, and the truth of many secrets were revealed. They thought they could control her, keep her contained in a neat little box labelled "test subject". They were wrong.

Since Miranda things had changed. It was like a switch had been flicked as her dark secret was revealed and River no longer had to bear the knowledge alone.

The events of those days hit the crew hard. In the ensuing weeks, they were sombre. They had released the truth to the 'verse. People's trust in the Alliance had waned, but they still held domain over this part of the verse. There were whispers of a rebellion in the outer planets by loyal brown coat veterans, but this was quickly quashed by the Alliance. Mal spent his days barking orders and bossing the crew more than ever before; Inara once again took up residency in her shuttle; Simon and Kaylee bagel to tentatively explore their relationship; Jayne looked to his guns for comfort, while Zoe…River stayed away from Zoe. The pain was still too deep, and she was often lost in dark places and darker nightmares.

River began to explore her newfound…power. Images and thoughts still permeated her mind, but a sense of control slowly began to develop. She found she could block many of the images, although it tired her to do so, and sometimes she still relied on meds to keep her focused. Her fits began to decrease, although she feared that she would always be haunted by the night terrors.

She would never be "normal"; River knew that. But she could pretend, protect and shield herself from the worst. It would take time to rebuild the fragments of her traumatised mind, but she could try.

She may never be truly sane. But at least she could be completely free.

I hope you enjoyed this. Hopefully this will become a short series following the lives of the crew post-Miranda, so keep an eye out!