11Title: Sticks and Stones (1/?)
Author: klmeri
Fandom: Star Trek AOS
Pairing: Kirk/Spock/McCoy
Disclaimer: I do not own ST or its character or even its alternate universe characters. I am merely entertaining myself – and a few others – with them at no expense.
Summary: Sequel to Many Bells Down; Riverside ‘verse AU. Khan is hell-bent on destroying everything and everyone James Kirk cares about until Jim surrenders the most important person of all—himself.
The new year is almost upon us! Update: The fairy tale Of House Guests and Winter Twins was finished and posted in early December. There is now a standalone one-shot for the Riverside ‘verse called Her Boy. I also did a 2011 fic recap and writing meme here if anyone is interested.
With that said, I will give you this teaser/prologue for the continuation of the Khan saga in Riverside. Happy New Year’s, everyone!
Prologue
The hard and bitter truth is what breaks Jim Kirk.
”…speak now or forever hold your peace.”
The double doors to the church crash open as if on cue and simultaneously the wedding dives into chaos. Standing tall at the beginning of the aisle, Jim cries out sharply, “Gaila! You can’t!” Around Kirk, people begin to pour inside the building heedless of his intentions, of his warning, as though he opened a floodgate; they uproot the pews, tackle the security guards, and swarm the room, fighting until all sense of peace is drowned by violence. Somebody screams; voices rise in an angry clamor. “Ours!” they are saying.
Across the room stands a woman in white, the red of her hair faintly visible beneath a veil. She seems frozen. Jim runs toward her, shoving past his enemies and his friends, past the hands reaching out to slow him down.
But someone catches Jim, causing him to stumble. When he looks up, it is Spock whose hands are pressing bruises into the flesh of his arms. Jim tries twisting away from the man’s steel grip, saying, “Let me go! Spock, please!”
“Hold ‘im fast,” comes the disembodied (once-beloved) drawl.
Jim throws his body forward, his momentum stolen, but Spock is immovable like a pillar of stone.
The words start up again: “…then by the power vested in me and in God…”
A shadow—a man in black—lifts the veil to reveal the face of the bride.
“…I now pronounce you…”
Gaila is crying. Smiling.
“GAILA!” Jim screams.
The shadow man turns to look at Jim.
“…man and wife,” finishes the faceless preacher.
It isn’t Khan.
Bile rises in Jim’s throat like horror.
It isn’t Khan.
Trelane’s mouth curves with a hint of his usual smirk, and he lifts a gloved hand to caress the side of Gaila’s face. “Dearest James,” the man murmurs with obvious nauseating excitement, “thank you for this lovely gift!”
Spock moves then, steadily drawing Jim backwards through the empty church. (When had it emptied?) Jim struggles weakly; his muscles feel too heavy, and he knows he cannot keep fighting. He begs instead.
“Don’t—please don’t—let her go—oh god, please let her go!—“
The back of his heel slips precariously off the top step just beyond the open doors; Spock is pulling him down the steps now, toward a landscape beyond which is grey and shapeless, a place Jim fears.
The lights inside the church go out, and Trelane and Gaila become entwined outlines in the darkness, drawing closer together until they are a singular entity.
“Jim,” Spock says behind him.
A shiver runs down Jim’s spine at the flat tone of his name.
“Jim,” Spock repeats again, and the church wavers, fades.
“Let go,” another voice cuts in, vaguely familiar.
Jim squeezes his eyes shut, teetering on the edge of his dream, and protests, “You let me go.”
Spock, surprisingly, does let him go. But Jim doesn’t fall forward. Instead he falls into the sensation of a hand at the back of his neck and that sensation saves him. He shivers again and, in reality, opens his eyes.
Spock is looking down at him, brows almost pinched together in concern. The hand on Jim’s neck is attached to the body his back is tucked up against—Leonard. Bones.
He blinks, his unadjusted eyes smarting at the bright lights of the bedroom, and grunts slightly.
“That was some nightmare you were having, kid,” Bones says, pressing hard against him as a reminder to wake up and as an assurance of safety.
Jim rolls forward so he can sit up. Bones follows him. Spock steps back from the side of the bed to give them room. As Kirk sets about fixing the t-shirt twisted about his ribs (had he been thrashing around?), he repeats, “I had a nightmare?” Then Jim questions more slowly, “Was it—as bad as before?”
He doesn’t have to specify what before refers to; his nightmares after the fire that burnt the original diner to less than a hull were unforgettable, both because of their intensity and the fact they lasted for months before subsiding. But Jim thought he was past nightmares of any kind.
Spock answers, “No.”
Jim sighs and shoves his fingers through his undoubtedly wild-looking hair. Meaning he didn’t scream himself hoarse. Maybe they had managed to awaken him before that part.
“Sorry,” he mutters, embarrassed, and stands up to go to the bathroom.
Leonard catches his hand with a plaintive “Jim.”
He shakes his head. “Don’t wanna talk about it, Bones.” The dream—nightmare—is already dissolving into a hazy memory. He frowns, feeling it slip farther away as he tries to recall its details.
Leonard squeezes his hand. “You sure?” In the same breath, “Was it about him?”
Jim feels his mouth twist sardonically. “Which him, Bones?” His eyes flick over to Spock, who is not verbally pressuring him to talk but is still radiating curiosity and concern nonetheless. “Trelane, Khan, or Pike?”
McCoy’s eyes darken and he begins to argue, “Pike—“
Jim breaks the physical contact between them and curls his hands into fists. “Pike,” he half-snarls, “betrayed us.”
Leonard closes his mouth, and a shuttered look comes down over his face. Jim considers his lover’s carefully blank expression and hates the sick feeling of told you so in his gut. For a long moment, neither man says anything.
Then Spock purposefully shifts his position to the bedroom door, careful of the tension in the room, and offers to put on a pot of tea. Jim nods too shortly, turning away toward the bathroom again.
“Tea’s fine, Spock.” McCoy’s agreement seems hollow.
Jim closes the bathroom door on Bones’ voice and braces himself against the cold porcelain of the double sink. He fights off nausea by breathing through his nose for several minutes. Once steady again, he washes his face while ignoring the slight shake of his hands and the pallor of his face in the mirror and lingers a sensible amount of time in the bathroom.
The bedroom is empty when he returns. Spock will be in the kitchen; McCoy may be with him.
Or may not.
But Jim doesn’t want to let his thoughts turn down that paranoid road.
He tries straightening the bed covers that had been flung every which way in the throes of his nightmare and retrieves the pillows which had fallen off the bed. Only then, despite his heart heavy, does Jim feel courageous enough to face the disaster that is his life.
He admits to himself that Pike’s betrayal is not what killed his hope of saving Riverside.
It’s Bones’ betrayal which did.
Related Posts:
- Sticks and Stones (18/18) – from April 19, 2012
- Sticks and Stones (17/18) – from April 17, 2012
- Emotional Much? – from April 17, 2012
- Sticks and Stones (16/17) – from April 13, 2012
- Sticks and Stones (15/17) – from April 11, 2012
AaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! What is going on!? I am so confused/scared. Jim just can’t catch a break, can he?
It is okay to be confused/scared. We are going to have to find out what these “betrayals” are. Ever feel like the universe is constantly picking on you? This is Jim’s life…
OMG!!! The Angst goddess Supreme is back on her throne!!! Pike has done something to betray jim….and BONES has dones something even worse!!! I’m strapping in for this ride and ready to go wherever you take it! Hey, Happy New Year!
You are too kind! :D Happy New Year, dear! My new year’s resolution is to see Khan kicked out of Riverside. ;)
LOL – but not too soon! Let Mr. Mayhem do his thing first! Jim suffers so beautifully under your masterful hands! ; )
Wait, what? Pike betrayed them? And then Bones did? You’re planning on being incredibly evil, I can tell!
Yes, I may just be VERY evil this time around. XD
*wibble* can I be stuck between dreading this and omg-cannot-wait! sweet torture indeed!
LOL. :D “Sweet torture” is a perfect description for what is in store for Jim.
What? What?! No! I am reading on with a hefty dollop of trepidation… At least the three of them are still together, but there’s clearly some major problems happening, eeeeeep! Do Not Want
Also, sticks and stones may sodding well NOT break our Bones. Your title is scary!