Fandom: Oz/Firefly
Character/Pairing: Said, Book
Prompt: introduction, messenger
A/N: I don't know how on target I am with the prompt, but this is what came up



One hundred, ninety-nine, ninety-eight…

Derrial stared at the candle. The Alliance doctor assured him that this was the next phase in his development. He wanted to be the best leader the alliance had ever seen, and if that meant submitting to the seemingly ridiculous, so be it.

Eighty-two, eighty-one, eighty…

Past-life regression. Derrial was not a religious man by any means. He had no time for God or faith. He believed that he was the only one in control of his one and only life, and that there was nothing before or after this lifetime. Obviously, his beliefs did not influence the Alliance.

Sixty-six, sixty-five, sixty-four…

The candle flame seemed to spread and grow. A warehouse on fire. Somewhere else. There was the sound of sirens and then…

“Count!”

…Derrial found himself in a cell block, surrounded by men, prisoners like himself. He was named Kareem Said, prisoner number 97S444. This Said was a leader in a religion that was practiced on some of the Rim worlds, and seemed to be a bit of a radical.

But there were things about Said that Derrial gravitated toward, that most men gravitated toward – his confidence, his passion for his cause, his thirst for justice, and, amazingly enough, his faith.

There was violence in this man as well. Always lurking under the surface, but flashes of the other man’s life brought them to the forefront. Blowing up the warehouse, the murder of another prisoner, a fight with a group of prisoners to protect another, the brutal treatment of his cellmate – all these things seemed to both contradict and work together with the proud man of faith. It was the faith that brought him through these crises of conscience.

Perhaps it was possible to find a balance between the two.

A quiet voice penetrated his thoughts. “Time to move on now, Derrial.” The scene dissolved and became another.

Twenty-two years later as he began his life as a Shepherd, Derrial Book thought back to this moment and silently thanked Kareem Said.