Bonds Know No Distance

[mirroredcommand]

The night was dark and deep and long in space, never ending, without a dawn to break the line between waking and sleep, day and night, beginning and end. It made existence endless, broken only by the silent running of the clocks on the wall, the movements of work, food, and sleep. Without these things, without the sureness of a schedule, time became meaningless. Even the stars could not keep him company.

So after Kirk came and 'visited', time resumed its endless patterns, moving on and on without pause or break or concept. For a man used to near-constant action, it was a form of torture more exquisite then any bit of pain or distress. More then anything, it was a torture that gave him nothing to focus his mind on anything but the swelling pain of the broken bond. It was swiftly becoming over whelming, completely and utterly. There was nothing left to keep the pain away, and with his shields designed only to block out Spock's light intrusions instead of a full on force, they were failing after being buffeted for so long. In short, he was going mad.

His expression showed little of the internal war except for the strong brow being furrowed and the age-lines at the edges of the eyes and corners of the mouth looking thicker. It was his hands that gave him away, gripping fiercely into the fabric of the bed he was reclining on. A headache was throbbing behind his eyes in time with his heart, a thick red-hot band of light that was searing like a knife into his mind. Deeper, deeper with every beat of his heart.

Every part of him was focused on maintaining the failing shields, rebuilding them as Spock had taught him those years ago. He had survived torture from Vulcans who knew precisely what to do in the mind, but could not stop this. This bond that had been forced onto him but in the end welcomed, this bond that had saved his life many times in the past, that had saved the life of his first officer and friend, this bond that had been a respite from a world where one could never relax... this bond was killing him. It would destroy him as surely as any blade to the heart.

SPOCK!

Never screamed aloud, never aloud. Instead, strong white teeth bit firmly into his lip, hard enough to send a trickle of crimson along his chin, down to his jawline. The pain, the strain, had been steadily increasing since James Kirk's visit to his cell, as if the reminder of the bond and speaking of it had started a chain reaction. He had long since started to keep his eyes closed [was it hours? minutes? weeks? centuries?] because at least this way the room would not spin. He was starting to feel that same spinning in his mind, making his world wobble like a child's toy.

It seemed hours passed this way. A day? Perhaps. He vaguely heard someone calling him, but did not dare respond. Still trapped in the arms of the enemy, he could not let a weakness be seen. The smell of food made his stomach swell and gurgle, but not from hunger. It felt like his entire body needed one thing it could not have. [a universe away]

He did not feel when he stood, instead he felt the world sway, go sideways. Could not feel the floor beneath his feet, the slap of his hand against the wall in an instinctual attempt to keep himself upright. Did not feel when the world tuned him out, blew him out like a light bulb, did not feel when the pain consumed him and his shields finally fell, did not feel when he hit the ground.

The darkness had claimed him instead.

Comments

[iron-command.livejournal.com]

Before them stood what their entrance had warned of. Hic Sunt Dracones. Here Be Dragons. It was a massive scaled creature of giant proportions (http://www.3aka.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/three-headed-dragon1.jpg), a monster of legends, glaring at the intruders. Light rippled across glimpses of black scales edged in green, and three sets of glowing eyes watched the Spocks from three reptilian heads.

It roared, shaking the earth under their feet.

...Who?

[cso-spock.livejournal.com]

Us.

He would not allow himself to feel fear in this situation, though the dragon was terrifying in its own respect. Looking away from it would do him little good, though. The ferocity of it threatened to suffocate him.

Me. Spock.

[sehlatbear.livejournal.com]

The thread of a bond to his counterpart, Christopher's Spock, was still there - Christopher had walked it to find his lover, his mate, his t'hy'lara.

Spock threw open his own gates, wide, pulled on that thread as hard as he could to draw in the feel of Christopher's own Spock.

[iron-command.livejournal.com]

One of the dragon's heads came down in a rush of speed, a second one a split second later, maws wide open, breath of sulfur. Their teeth shone silver in the light, gold a moment later, dripping with ropey saliva, threatening to crush.

Then, all at once, they stopped only mere inches from both. One head growled low in the younger Spock's face, watching.

[cso-spock.livejournal.com]

He blinked at it, unfazed, and kept still where he was. Such defenses continued to waste time, and their goal was right behind them, so close.

Christopher. He said, more forcefully. Allow at least one of us in. We will not hurt you.

[sehlatbear.livejournal.com]

There was danger here. An obvious statement, Spock knew - they had been in danger the moment they had entered his mind. But to be separated.... The younger Spock was vulnerable, so alone still in his mind, and this Christopher Richard Pike, with the aching ends of his bond, would recognize that.

He focused on the thread, on the taste of his Spock that Christopher had found through this Spock's mind and broadcast it through his hand on the door, the flavor and scent and texture of Christopher's Spock.

[iron-command.livejournal.com]

Silence reigned except for the low, steady growl of the dragon. Then the doors cracked open behind Spock, opening only the smallest distance to allow a single person to creep through its stone defenses.

[cso-spock.livejournal.com]

Spock looked at his counterpart beside him. He was the more experienced one here, the one with the greater foundation and security with the protection of two bonds. His own mind was still vulnerable, open to connections, easily manipulated (in the grand scheme of things), and already so-called emotionally compromised by all of this...

But he meant what he said before the meld.

He slipped in through the opening.

[sehlatbear.livejournal.com]

This was, Spock admitted to himself, perhaps the sort of behavior that Jim objected to when Spock himself exhibited it - the self-sacrificing tendency to rush in.

Still projecting Christopher's Spock as strongly as he could, Spock tried to slip in after Spock, binding them together as tightly as could be imagined.

Spock!

He offered his hand to his counterpart - they would share minds, blend consciousnesses, present a unified identity.

If only they had thought to do so before the dragon had appeared. Still, heightened circumstances were often useful for stimulating new ideas.

[cso-spock.livejournal.com]

There was hesitation. He knew what he was offering, the benefit that would come with. It was logical to take his hand.

But there were emotions here, more easily triggered because of the effect of the human mind around him, the walls pressing into his thoughts. Jealousy, arrogance, he could remedy this problem by himself even though he knew he couldn't, why couldn't the other just stick his own bondmates--

Grudgingly, Spock took his hand.

[sehlatbear.livejournal.com]

Spock's shields were already open, blasted down to broadcast the sound and fury of Christopher's Spock. The contact with his younger counterpart was all that it took to hurtle the two together, no change in landscape this time but a curious bending of bodies, a lowering of boundaries, a strange dual consciousness overlaid with their individual observing voices.

[original-fine.livejournal.com]

Jim cried out, softly, at the sudden twist of something inside him, something he didn't understand and couldn't place, that had to do with Spock and the bond and something else he didn't recognize, and dammit he should have asked for help with this sooner. Because all he could do, for now, was stand there and watch and be Jim as be Jim as solidly as he could, hoping it might help somehow. The bond was there, but it was different, a tension in it he had not felt before.

[iron-command.livejournal.com]

Inside the doors was, without a doubt, the core of Pike's being. An oasis in the desert, sprawling and beautiful, subtle and simple. There were plants spreading tendrils across the way, the stream bubbling up and going across the way. It was completely surrounded in stone about four feet high, then spread out into an open view of the sky above.

It was immediately obvious that something was missing, and that was the stars. There were none, just an empty dark sky that was settled into sunset-dusk.

Across the way was another huge set of doors. Trailing down the pale stone were streaks and handprints in blood. At the foot of the doors was Pike, his eyes closed and very still.

[sehlatbear.livejournal.com]

They-who-were-Spock did not need to confer with one another. They rushed to his side, name on their lips, a strangely doubled sound even in this entirely mental construct.

Christopher.

[cso-spock.livejournal.com]

The blood, the doors, and the scenery were all taken into account at once, while simultaneously they focused on Pike, examining him and his quiet anguish. At his side, they reached out (because Spock wanted to reach out, to touch and console), and continued to speak. Let us soothe you.

[iron-command.livejournal.com]

No matter the verse, a bond was a bond. Nearly a month of strain, kept out of sight of the enemy, weakness held in check, and now it had all come to a head like a cancer. Without a doubt, Pike's Spock knew what had happened, possibly it was even the reason for contact between the two ships.

Pike's eyes opened and focused on Spock, combined and yet single, and stared at the younger Spock. Here, the gloves seemed to be gone or had been torn off, as his hands were torn up on stone, bloodied heavily from mental attempts to contact his bond mate.

SpockSpockSpockSpock. It was a litany of sound, one that vibrated low with pure need and exquisite pain. A different state then the older Spock had found himself in after his bond mate McCoy had been removed from the universe under different circumstances, but Pike had no second bond mate to stabilize him at all.

[sehlatbear.livejournal.com]

They-who-were-Spock arranged themselves around Christopher, the elder at his head, cradling it, the younger at his side to grip his hand, touch his face. They-who-were-Spock offered up their own bonds as balm, fitted to the ragged ends of Pike's mind, flavored with his own Spock, across dimensions.

We are almost here. Let us ease you until we are here.

[iron-command.livejournal.com]

Their saving hands and minds protected Pike's from the darkness of madness, pushed back the night that was threatening this private place within his mind. The bond that needed repair, needed its mate, stretched too thin to sense, coiled around They-who-were-Spock and their own bonds and latched on, finding, feeling, needing.

Spock! A single word that spoke of such longing, such love, fell silently from Pike's lips and heavily from his mind. They were in his inner most more, where only his t'hy'la had gone before, where there were no boundaries of training and there were no masks of strength and bravado and command.

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

Kirk walked across the room to the nearest comm and quickly linked up to the bridge, "Navigation. Head at warp 4 to the coordinates Uhura and Spock provided."

"Yes, sir!"

Kirk leaned his forehead against the wall, eyes closing. Fuck, it felt like there was something going on that he should know about, something that fucker had going on inside of his head. Didn't matter what happened, as long as Spock and Spock were safe and Pher's Spock came and got him. Took him away. They'd be vulnerable for who knew how long, open to attack, dangerous...

He sucked in a hard breath when he felt something pop like a bubble in the back of his mind. Kirk turned and stared at the bed, whole body going tense. He could feel it, feel them, almost acutely aware. "Spock..." Whispered unconsciously, not even realizing it.

[cso-spock.livejournal.com]

There was blood on their hand, the manifestation of his pain and struggles to get through. But they didn't care (he didn't care) about that, fingers slipping in between his. Their body (his, his alone, unprotected, open, untethered, and uncommitted--so much better to accommodate this, to cool the pain and the bond) pressed close and comforting, the warmth of his their thoughts coalescing with Pike's.

The love tempted him them closer with its purity, fingers coming up to brush his temple. It was only one manifestation of the affection, the soothing...It will not be long.

[sehlatbear.livejournal.com]

A thread of warning inside the mind of They-Who-Were-Spock, a frisson of worry that the younger would be overwhelmed, was not sufficiently healed to be in this place.

[iron-command.livejournal.com]

Won't be. Can't-! Each word seemed to be a struggle, but then he looked to the younger Spock, eyes burning in their sockets.

[original-fine.livejournal.com]

Jim felt it--the sudden tug in the place he thought of as the bond, that strange new presence, the whispered "Spock" escaping his lips at the same time as Kirk. He could not navigate what he was sensing, could not parse it into anything that made sense, but he had to hold himself back from the bed, from going to him/them, from stopping this.

He knew it had to be, knew that Spock needed to do this and that Pike needed something. But it tore at him, just the same.

Next to him he felt the other Jim, and unconsciously he reached over and grabbed his arm, just to have that anchor, that presence there, and perhaps also because they were them and it strengthened him.

[cso-spock.livejournal.com]

The concerns of the elder were brushed off carelessly, his focus entirely on the matter at hand. The words of warning were taken into more consideration--but only for a moment, until their thoughts wrapped a tighter support around Pike, ignoring the shared pain that came with doing so.

(He knew he should probably leave from this place and withdraw from the meld before something happened. Consequences he couldn't escape, images that he couldn't forget. But a falter here meant a failure outside. Failure was unacceptable.)

Ina. No. They weren't going anywhere. He will come for you.

[sehlatbear.livejournal.com]

The elder incarnation of Spock would never have admitted it ordinarily. But deep in this very human mind with its powerful influence, the blended identity that was They Who Were Spock felt a surge of intense annoyance, from one to the other. The blend shifted subtlely, until the elder Spock's mind stood as a barrier between the searching ends of Pike's bond and the empty reaches of the younger Spock. They Who Were Spock could not afford to be duhik in this place - it would cost Pike his sanity, his bond, perhaps his life. It could cost them even more.

It is possible. He comes - will you not wait for him?

They Who Were Spock shared the memory of their own pain, filled themselves with it to drain it from Pike's identity.