AN: Alrighty, so I noticed that so far there's only one story here for this fandom. Which, quite honestly, is very sad. So this is my solution: writing another story. One that most likely will suck, but hey. I'm used to that. I'm pretty sure this will turn out Mal/Natara, but we'll see where it goes.

Anyway, this first chapter turned out a bit darker than I thought it would, and I'm a bit nervous about posting it. Please tell me what you think. So here it is...

It was so dark.

I shivered against the cold wooden floor, desperate to stay warm. The door slammed open, and I flinched, curling in on myself even more. A wide patch of floor was illuminated and fell on my face. Squinting against the brightness, I barely noticed the pain as I was lifted from the floor.

When I was returned to the room, I was barely conscious. How long had this gone on for? Six days? Seven? I didn't know anymore. I'd lost track, especially since I hadn't seen daylight except for the times I was taken from the room.

I had no plan. No tricks up my sleeve: no phone, no gun, no witty comments. Well, correction, I had witty comments. I just couldn't say them out loud. I'd lost my voice a while back, somewhere between overuse and a few bouts of near strangulation.

There was no way I was making it out of here. Not alive, anyway.

...

I jerked awake at the sound of glass breaking. I hadn't even noticed that I'd drifted off. I braced myself mentally for the door to creak open, for the blinding light and the pain. I don't know how long I stayed there, cringing away from the door. All was silent on the other side.

I knew I shouldn't have gone looking for Miller on my own. Mal and Ken and Amy all told me that it was a suicide mission, and that I would get myself killed. I went looking for him anyway. But honestly, the guy was selling drugs, and he was targeting kids! There had already been three deaths, and everyone had wanted to catch this guy, this Senan Miller. He was the worst kind of scum to crawl the earth, and he needed to be caught. I'd simply taken it upon myself to see to it that this man was put behind bars, where he belonged.

I'd been so careful. I'd waited till night, when I'd have the cover of darkness. I'd parked a ways away from the store that I believed Miller was using as a cover-up. I'd double-checked and triple-checked that no one was around before approaching the building. I'd made sure that my gun was loaded and that the safety was off. I'd silently slipped through the shadows over to the window and peered in. There was pain, and then I woke up in the trunk of a car.

Stupid hunch. Well, it was a great hunch, but it was stupidity on my part for not telling anyone where I was going. I could imagine Mal crossing his arms and frowning at me, telling my off about how idiotic and impulsive my plan was. He'd remind me that I was supposed to be the rational one.

There was more noise on the other side and I sighed wearily. Apparently Senan was having a bad day. And when Senan had a bad day that meant my day would be infinitely worse. I'd already seen him once today. Did he really have to bring me back out?

I frowned; actually, I heard a lot of noise outside the door. Shouting, swearing... Was there a fight going on?

The door swung open, and two figures stood in the doorway. So Senan had brought along a friend for this round. My eyes snapped closed against the brightness, and I heard one stride over to where I lay. I simply remained lying on the floor, to tired to lift my head. A wild thought flitted through my mind; was this similar to what Neha went through when she was abducted, held and tortured by Genevieve Collins?

As I braced myself for whatever torture was coming my way I could only think of Neha, of my baby sister who I would most likely never see again. I despised Miller with all of my being for taking me away from my family and friends and everyone I cared about. As the footsteps stopped in front of me, I felt the person kneel next to me and I dared to open my eyes the tiniest bit. I blinked, the only sign of surprise I was capable of showing at the moment. Officer Joe Bartaugh.

"Miss? Are you okay?" I felt him brush my hair out of my face at the same time the other officer found the light switch. As the lights flickered on Joe jerked his hand back as if he had been burned and I blinked against the light.

"SWEET MOTHER OF-! Call an ambulance! Now! It's Natara!"

There were hurried footsteps and hopeful voices and I shrunk back as far as I could.

"Oh, God..." a voice I recognized as the Captain Yeong's as she entered the room.

Another set of footsteps. Another voice, this one hesitant, afraid to even hope. "Is it-?"

They were voices I had prayed I would get to hear another time, ones that I'd been hesitant to replay in my mind because of the crippling despair I'd felt when I knew the odds were against them finding me.

The worried and concerned faces that surrounded me were blissfully familiar. Captain Yeong and Mal stepped further into the room and replaced Officer Bartaugh at my side. My eyes lingered on Mal's for a moment, taking in the worry and concern that were etched clearly on his face.

I closed my eyes, refusing to look at them again, ignoring their pleas for me to respond, to open my eyes again.

I was hallucinating. They weren't really here. They were simply hallucinations. No more, no less. My mind had finally snapped and was torturing me by showing me the impossible. I'd accepted my fate, albeit reluctantly; but I knew I would not escape this place.

It had been easy to imagine their voices and see their faces after a few days of being here. I'd just refused to do it for so long. I knew it was a very thin line to tread, to fantasize that my friends were near, to having a hallucination. I hadn't wanted that. My body was broken, but my mind was not.

"Natara, please open your eyes."

Until now, anyway.

"Special Agent Williams, you need to answer us."

This couldn't be real.

Then again, if this was a hallucination, maybe the end was near. Maybe this was all about to be over, finally. Maybe I could spend my last moments among my friends.

My eyes slowly opened.