So, this is my third attempt at writing fiction and my second attempt at a multi-chaptered fic, so I hope y'all aren't too disappointed... Un-beta-ed

Adhira is Hindu for lightning...

It was raining. It had been raining all week, but today, of all days, was the worst. Hidden beneath her cloak and always looking over her shoulder, Adhira was waiting. She had been on the run from the Alliance for months now, and this was her last chance at freedom from the oppression and secrecy that has taken over her life.

Then, she saw it. The ticket to her freedom. The Serenity. The name sent shivers down her spine. It certainly has been a while, and she had changed so much since the war. She was older, she changed her hair color and dropped her last name, but she would never grow out of the memories. The destruction. The screaming. The horror. The torture. They haunt her dreams and echo in her mind

She's not the only one, though. In fact, she's one of three that made it out of the war alive. But no one would realize it. There was no way anyone would recognize her. Her own sister didn't even recognize her. Plus, everyone thought she was dead, which played into her charade of being a nobody quite nicely. To the serenity crew, she's a ghost, a shimmer of a long forgotten memory. And she was perfectly content with that.

Or so she thought.

Captain Malcolm Reynolds loved his life. No matter what hardship he had encountered, he had never regretted a moment in his life.

That is, until that fateful day. Being a volunteer in the 57th Infantry, the Browncoats gave meaning to his life. Then, one day that warring forces of the Alliance and the Independents met at the final battleground of Serenity Valley. By the end, the only survivors of the 57th were Mal and fellow crew member Zoe Washburne. The war was devastating enough, but that battle most of all was the worst.

Mal and Zoe saw all but one of their comrades die, and the one who wasn't killed on the battlefield was taken prisoner by the Alliance. She's been missing for 16 years now, and is presumed dead. The only person more affected by this loss than Mal is the victim's sister, Inara.

Inara Serra wouldn't talk about her sister anymore. She used to tell about the raiding party that stormed her house when she as six and her sister five, and how her sister fought the intruders off and saved her family. She would talk about how this one event fueled her desire to join the Browncoats when the war began.

Such stories are now extinct. No one talks about the war anymore, and these memories caused Inara to leave the Serenity for good. The memories of her long gone sister were too much for her to handle.

In the five years since she left 'her ship', Inara only made contact with the Serenity crew once, three days ago, to plead with the Captain to grant safe passage for a homeless girl who showed up at the training house where she lived and has been on the run from the alliance for months.