Title: Wax Wings
Fandom: Firefly
Rating: PG
Characters/Pairing: Simon, Kaylee, River
Word Count: 448
Warnings: None
Summary: Simon tells an old legend from Earth That Was.
A/N: Written for the mixtape_13 challange. Inspired by the song Daedalus by Thrice. (NOT songfic though!!). Also - omg a fic that isn't Dr. Horrible!!


“Captain says we’re to stay put down here ‘til the deal goes through,” Kaylee said, looking worried. “I don’t like it.”

“We’re safe here,” Simon reminded her, pulling her down onto the chair next to him. “Why would you want to be up there?”

She shook her head. “I just want to be off this world. I don’t trust these folks.”

“Mal will be fine. He’s got Zoe and Jayne to look after him.”

“But what if he’s not?”

“Then I’ll look after him as best I can,” Simon said calmly.

Kaylee sighed. “I’m sorry. I just got a bad feeling, is all.” She rubbed absentmindedly at a smear of engine grease over her cheek. “D’you know any stories?” she asked suddenly.

Simon frowned at the sudden change in topic. “Stories?”

“Yeah. See I never went to a good school and all the stories we had were about our world. We didn’t have nothin’ about Earth That Was, or any other corner of the ‘verse. But you had expensive schoolin’ on the core planets. They must’ve told you lots of good stories, right?”

“Well yes, but…”

“I think it might help take my mind off of worryin’ about the Captain,” she added.

“There was a story, a legend, back on Earth That Was,” Simon began slowly. ““It’s about a man named Daedalus and his son, Icarus. They were imprisoned on an island. But Daedalus wanted his son to grow up freely, so he devised a plan to escape. He made two pairs of wings from wax and the feathers of birds so that he and Icarus could fly to safety.”

“It wouldn’t work,” River’s voice came drifting up from beneath the table. “The surface area would be insufficient. The weight of the body would overcome the air resistance and they would fall. It’s illogical.”

Simon laughed softly. “It’s just a story, River.”

“So what happened?” asked Kaylee.

“Well, Daedalus’ plan worked at first. They flew across the sea, but as they got further away from the island, Icarus started climbing higher and higher in the sky. Daedalus warned him to steer clear of the sun, but Icarus didn’t listen. The sun melted the wax wings, and he fell into the sea.”

Kaylee pondered this for a moment. “D’you think the Captain is like Daedalus? Findin’ a way for us to fly free?”

“In a way, I suppose,” Simon replied. “But sometimes I think he’s like Icarus; flying too close to the sun, not knowing when he’s gone too far.”

River crawled out from under the table. “Then you’ll have to be Daedalus,” she said decisively. “Be the voice of reason and stop us all falling into the sea.”