Sorry its been a while. School and work stuff.

So I present Jaynesdingleberries Shade Run: Chapter 23

Me no ownee.

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It started with a breath.

It hurt; a sharp deep pain that encompassed his body like a second skin, a glove of latex that revealed sensation on the outside but prevented the skin from coming into contact with anything but itself, a cool and cold plastic with nothing better to do than to smother pores.

Shade opened his eyes.

He saw the cold and sterile ceiling that, from his mental forays into mother Serenity's frame in the past, indicated that he was on his back, in the infirmary; and by the sensation returning to his tired body, he was strapped down to the operating table. He grimaced in distaste; he had had enough of tables and restraints a long time ago.

There was no one else in the room, he found when he glanced around, lifting his still-matted head off the table. The doors of the infirmary were shut and, he didn't doubt, locked. He was caged.

A slight growl escaped from his chest.

He had never liked cages; even as a boy, when the demoness' men had captured him.

For the barest instant he thought about using his hand, he even flexed it in anticipation; then he banished the foolish thought and flexed his arm muscles instead, making hard fists. The restraints, tight on his emaciated wrists, made high-pitched squeaking noises as his tendons began to break through them.

Stop, please.

The words spoken gently in his battered mind froze him in an instant. River?

Yes. Please don't break them; it would take Simon such a long time to replace them. Besides, It'll make Captain Daddy mad, you breaking parts off his ship.

Tyus?

There was a long frigid pause, then: Jayne has tied him up; but much nicer than he had tied us. No bad knees.

Shards brow furrowed slightly in puzzlement, Why not? It certainly didn't make sense to give kindness to an enemy; and certainly not to a man like Tyus Anderstelle, who had already caused them so much pain.

Instead of answering why her man had tied the enemy up all comfy, River chose to give the reason of why they tied him up. They wanted to interrogate him and then decide his fate.

Zoe, it seemed, was opting for the airlock. So was Jayne; rather boisterously.

They should have killed him first thing. He thought coolly.

A blossom of red filled his mind; it was her man Jayne…he was standing near her now, wherever they were; but not touching…Shade would have felt that, like a lightning bolt through her skin.

River?

There was a hesitation in her mind now, as she was listening to the others, their voices as well as their minds. All that Shade could here was the gentle whisper and hiss of the ship's air system as it let oxygen in and carbon monoxide out. There was the faintest feeling of movement as Serenity moved in the Black.

But nothing else.

He asked again, River?

They are also deciding what are they going to do with you. But please, I'll work it out. Stay there. For some reason that seemed to comfort him; and Shade let himself lower down onto the table again. It really didn't matter what the crew decided to do with him.

Not now.

To a werewolf death was usually a better avenue to take.

He closed his eyes and sought what rest he would be allowed before they came for him…and fell asleep with a tendril of River's thoughts in his mind.

I will keep my promise.