FIC: SPN/FF crossover
Xú Landing, 2
by Vanzetti
Firefly/Supernatural
John/Zoe
Rated R, spoilers for Serenity
Previous Parts:
Eurydice Settlement
Caieta Port
Xú Landing, 1
The geong si go down easy and so does the priest that was raising them. They wind up back on his ship, stumbling through the hatch wrapped around each other, barely making it all the way up to his bunk and dropping clothes all over the cabin. Zoe's got him on his back, then, and he has just enough time to think how lucky he was that she happened by that burying ground when she did, before she shifts her hips and he gasps out loud. He's got his hands in her hair, and this old boat may not be home, but isn't it the next best thing, him and Zoe in this too-small cot, the look on her face and the feel of her as she moves above him. They doze for a while, after, and she leaves him with a kiss and a promise to stop back before Serenity lifts off. John's willing to admit that he's feeling more cheerful than he has any right to be.
The hatch buzzes sooner than he expected, and when he opens it he sees why: not Zoe, but a small, dark-haired woman in a fancy dress, all careful pleats and arched eyebrows. "Miss?" he says.
"John Winchester?" she asks, and when he nods, says, "May I come in?" She sounds like the most civilized thing in all Xú Landing, and looks like she might be able to pay him something, so he takes a step back and lets her through, hurrying to shift paper and a box of ammo off his one good chair. He leans against the table and watches her arrange the skirt over her legs as she sits and fold her hands in her lap. "You've been the only topic of conversation since I returned to Serenity."
"You must be Inara," he says; not a job, then, but what a woman like this is doing on a ship like that is an interesting question.
She smiles, which he takes as a yes. "Mal wanted to come see you, but we decided that this way it was less likely to end in shouting or violence." She ought to look out of place in here, but he's the one who feels awkward under her gaze. He holds himself very still, waiting to see what she'll say next, wishing it had been Reynolds, because shouting and violence are things he understands, but this woman with her necklaces and her red lips and her fine dress is strange beyond words. "What you should understand is that we've been through a great deal together. Serenity is a family."
John nods. "Zoe might have said something about that."
"We're not concerned about Zoe."
John thinks about this a little while he waits for Inara to speak again. When it becomes pretty clear that she's going to make him say it, he runs a hand through his hair and sighs. "River. What is she, a reader?"
"River is very powerful and very vulnerable. We wouldn't want anyone to try to take advantage of that."
"Well, I ain't likely to try." The back of his neck prickles at that word, powerful. He decides to ignore it.
"No," she says. "I don't think you would."
"Then what's all this about? Because I don't see what exactly you're accusing me of doing." It's a stretch to keep his voice even.
"We wouldn't want anyone else to try to exploit River, either."
"You think I'm gonna spill your secrets?"
"No." Her eyes remain on him. "River called you a hunter," she says. "What is it that you hunt?"
"That's a little complicated," he says. Damned if he's gonna air his own business with this woman sitting there prattling on about keeping theirs to themselves. And it may be true that there were times he might have tried to find out what kind of power a girl like that might have and how he might use it, but those times are over, gone with the demon.
Inara rises to her feet and walks over to the bulkhead wall. He's got a series of articles posted up: a set of five killings at a mine on Charon, maybe a pattern there. Hadn't thought of clearing up for guests, not aside from Zoe and she already knows his business, or as much as she needs to. "I realize that this may be difficult to believe, but we aren't being irrationally paranoid."
"If you reckoned I was dangerous, you wouldn't be here on your own."
She turns around from the articles, eyebrows raised. "Don't be too sure about that."
Whole damn ship's a mystery, he thinks, nothing quite what it seems. "Look," he says, tired of all this indirect talking. "I'll figure it out on my own, or you can go ahead and say it. But if you want me to keep your secrets, you could tell me what to be wary of."
"River isn't only a reader," Inara says. "And she isn't only a weapon. But she was made into one."
He listens to that, thinks about the girl at dinner, nonsense alternating with sharp eyes. "Maybe that was what she needed to be," he offers her.
"You've met her," Inara says. "What do you think?"
He looks at the floor, thinks a while about necessity. In the end, what he says is, "What I hunt's evil. Darkness, and what lives there. No bounties for that; you don't have anything to fear from me."
Inara inclines her head at that; then she's gone in a cloud of scent and a rustle of silk.
It doesn't take him long to work it out. Zoe'd mentioned Miranda, and that's where he starts. They were busy when that went down, the last weeks of the hunt, as they set the trap for the demon. He remembers them picking up the transmission, and Sam listening and talking in a low voice to Dean, but John himself had other things to worry about then, and as Dean didn't indicate that it was likely to blow up in their faces he'd let it lie. Now he goes back to find the story, drugs and reavers, and thinks he might have to reconsider his opinion of Reynolds.
So that's one thing, and bad enough; the other is a missing persons report, a kidnapped girl, come to him from a contact on Ariel, with that hint that it was the girl was the danger, not the kidnappers. He's got a note scribbled on the side, "possessed?" right by River's face, rounder and younger in black and white. But it was one thing after another that year, and he had enough trouble keeping his own boys safe, no time to think about someone else's missing girl.
And there's a third, because there's a name on that report he's heard before, he's fairly sure, although there's only one way to know. John rests his head in his hands a moment, then heads up to the cockpit to record a wave for Dean. Bobby'll know where the boys are; he'll pass on the message.
Probably serve him right if Dean don't answer.
end
This is the end of the first arc of the story; as the sequel hook indicates, there will be more to come. I'm working on it. But I would say that this is the segment that moves us firmly from "set of connected stories" to "work in progress," for those of you to whom that distinction matters.
Next part: Xinwuwei Docks.
by Vanzetti
Firefly/Supernatural
John/Zoe
Rated R, spoilers for Serenity
Previous Parts:
Eurydice Settlement
Caieta Port
Xú Landing, 1
The geong si go down easy and so does the priest that was raising them. They wind up back on his ship, stumbling through the hatch wrapped around each other, barely making it all the way up to his bunk and dropping clothes all over the cabin. Zoe's got him on his back, then, and he has just enough time to think how lucky he was that she happened by that burying ground when she did, before she shifts her hips and he gasps out loud. He's got his hands in her hair, and this old boat may not be home, but isn't it the next best thing, him and Zoe in this too-small cot, the look on her face and the feel of her as she moves above him. They doze for a while, after, and she leaves him with a kiss and a promise to stop back before Serenity lifts off. John's willing to admit that he's feeling more cheerful than he has any right to be.
The hatch buzzes sooner than he expected, and when he opens it he sees why: not Zoe, but a small, dark-haired woman in a fancy dress, all careful pleats and arched eyebrows. "Miss?" he says.
"John Winchester?" she asks, and when he nods, says, "May I come in?" She sounds like the most civilized thing in all Xú Landing, and looks like she might be able to pay him something, so he takes a step back and lets her through, hurrying to shift paper and a box of ammo off his one good chair. He leans against the table and watches her arrange the skirt over her legs as she sits and fold her hands in her lap. "You've been the only topic of conversation since I returned to Serenity."
"You must be Inara," he says; not a job, then, but what a woman like this is doing on a ship like that is an interesting question.
She smiles, which he takes as a yes. "Mal wanted to come see you, but we decided that this way it was less likely to end in shouting or violence." She ought to look out of place in here, but he's the one who feels awkward under her gaze. He holds himself very still, waiting to see what she'll say next, wishing it had been Reynolds, because shouting and violence are things he understands, but this woman with her necklaces and her red lips and her fine dress is strange beyond words. "What you should understand is that we've been through a great deal together. Serenity is a family."
John nods. "Zoe might have said something about that."
"We're not concerned about Zoe."
John thinks about this a little while he waits for Inara to speak again. When it becomes pretty clear that she's going to make him say it, he runs a hand through his hair and sighs. "River. What is she, a reader?"
"River is very powerful and very vulnerable. We wouldn't want anyone to try to take advantage of that."
"Well, I ain't likely to try." The back of his neck prickles at that word, powerful. He decides to ignore it.
"No," she says. "I don't think you would."
"Then what's all this about? Because I don't see what exactly you're accusing me of doing." It's a stretch to keep his voice even.
"We wouldn't want anyone else to try to exploit River, either."
"You think I'm gonna spill your secrets?"
"No." Her eyes remain on him. "River called you a hunter," she says. "What is it that you hunt?"
"That's a little complicated," he says. Damned if he's gonna air his own business with this woman sitting there prattling on about keeping theirs to themselves. And it may be true that there were times he might have tried to find out what kind of power a girl like that might have and how he might use it, but those times are over, gone with the demon.
Inara rises to her feet and walks over to the bulkhead wall. He's got a series of articles posted up: a set of five killings at a mine on Charon, maybe a pattern there. Hadn't thought of clearing up for guests, not aside from Zoe and she already knows his business, or as much as she needs to. "I realize that this may be difficult to believe, but we aren't being irrationally paranoid."
"If you reckoned I was dangerous, you wouldn't be here on your own."
She turns around from the articles, eyebrows raised. "Don't be too sure about that."
Whole damn ship's a mystery, he thinks, nothing quite what it seems. "Look," he says, tired of all this indirect talking. "I'll figure it out on my own, or you can go ahead and say it. But if you want me to keep your secrets, you could tell me what to be wary of."
"River isn't only a reader," Inara says. "And she isn't only a weapon. But she was made into one."
He listens to that, thinks about the girl at dinner, nonsense alternating with sharp eyes. "Maybe that was what she needed to be," he offers her.
"You've met her," Inara says. "What do you think?"
He looks at the floor, thinks a while about necessity. In the end, what he says is, "What I hunt's evil. Darkness, and what lives there. No bounties for that; you don't have anything to fear from me."
Inara inclines her head at that; then she's gone in a cloud of scent and a rustle of silk.
It doesn't take him long to work it out. Zoe'd mentioned Miranda, and that's where he starts. They were busy when that went down, the last weeks of the hunt, as they set the trap for the demon. He remembers them picking up the transmission, and Sam listening and talking in a low voice to Dean, but John himself had other things to worry about then, and as Dean didn't indicate that it was likely to blow up in their faces he'd let it lie. Now he goes back to find the story, drugs and reavers, and thinks he might have to reconsider his opinion of Reynolds.
So that's one thing, and bad enough; the other is a missing persons report, a kidnapped girl, come to him from a contact on Ariel, with that hint that it was the girl was the danger, not the kidnappers. He's got a note scribbled on the side, "possessed?" right by River's face, rounder and younger in black and white. But it was one thing after another that year, and he had enough trouble keeping his own boys safe, no time to think about someone else's missing girl.
And there's a third, because there's a name on that report he's heard before, he's fairly sure, although there's only one way to know. John rests his head in his hands a moment, then heads up to the cockpit to record a wave for Dean. Bobby'll know where the boys are; he'll pass on the message.
Probably serve him right if Dean don't answer.
end
This is the end of the first arc of the story; as the sequel hook indicates, there will be more to come. I'm working on it. But I would say that this is the segment that moves us firmly from "set of connected stories" to "work in progress," for those of you to whom that distinction matters.
Next part: Xinwuwei Docks.