Twinkle lights wait, shine bright in her eyes. Twinkle light enters the room, dancing around calling her name.

River shakes her head, loses her place as the light dances on tiptoes while her stomach spins round. This is not what she wants. She focuses the lights, forces them to stream in particulate waves rather than Cinderella's ballet.

Twinkle bell is still here, calling her name, shining like the light that everyone loves. River catches that on the waves, sees the love aimed like a shot at this one. This one; not River. Hate circles through her, takes over as she sees how alone she truly is.

"Mine," she shouts. "You don't get them all!"

She reaches out, searching for the words to label this threat, this black hole that sucks away everything from River.

He sees lush lips, framed by dark hair, kissed by a thousand faces.

"Whore," they spit together.

He sees a man who would sell out a crewmate for a handful of plat. He's afraid his own soul is no cleaner.

"Traitor," they hiss.

She sees a woman who will take whatever she can, and the men around her are too enamored of her wiles to see.

"Bitch," they shout, and launch their first at the smug little face.

An instant before it lands she sees Kaylee's wide eyes before her.

"No," she screams. She throws her body across the room, where it cannot hurt anyone but herself. "Sorry, so sorry."

It is not enough, but she doesn't know how to make it better. Make the dark things go away so she can appreciate the light. Gentle hands reach for her, but she crawls away. She's not safe.

"Go away," she sobs.

The hands do, and she's all alone with the voices of the universe.

On to Polarized.