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

[cso-spock.livejournal.com]

"What I mean, Doctor," Spock looked over to look at him directly, an unwavering gaze held there by the same control that was keeping his expression blank of what he was really feeling. "Is that he is not physically present on this vessel."

[dctr-mccoy.livejournal.com]

Spock's expression was stoic but there was something going on in his eyes that made Bones cold - this was fucking bad... It was like a pit opened up in his stomach and Bones just stood there, unable to move. He heard Spock's words but they sounded slow in his head, as if played at half-speed.

His own words were sounded foreign in his head. "Where is he?"

[cso-spock.livejournal.com]

"If I knew the coordinates of his location, I would have already retrieved him." Spock had his own ways of saying he had no clue what was happening or how to remedy it. He looked over the pain at the biobed, still trapped in their own minds and the intimacy of the meld. His first, immutable instinct was to interrupt it and ask them where his captain had gone, theytookhim--but there was no evidence to either support or refute this conclusion.

He needed to do something productive, needed to get all the variables in hand before he did something rash--like ripping open the break between dimensions and wreaking havoc on the mirrored Enterprise on the other side. "I am returning to the bridge." He told the room, and turned to go, intending to bring Nyota with him. "Inform me when they break the meld." Spock gestured to his mirror and Pike on the biobed. "And maintain a security detail at all times."

[just-uhura.livejournal.com]

"We'll find him," was her immediate response to Bones, wanting to reassure him that James would be alright. But it occurred to her that she couldn't promise that, and her eyes darted to the Pike and Spock still locked in their meld as if they were responsible. Taing a deep breath, she tried her very best to calm her emotions, to think before laying blame. The last thing they needed was an inter-dimensional war between ships based on wild accusations. It was extremely, extremely difficult to try and force logic into the forefront of her mind, but she could feel the rush of worry and panic from Spock, and was determined to do what she could to try and steady him.

She reached out for Bones's arm as she passed him, fingers gripping it gently as if that was any consolation for the situation. "Be safe Leo." she pleaded, eyes once again finding Pike and Spock. Hopefully they would be sufficiently distracted. To Spock she turned, her hand still tight in his, her jaw setting in that familiar grim determination. "How the hell did he get off this ship? Someone must have beamed him off." She didn't want to say it was the mirror of their ship but the evidence was looking extremely likely.

[dctr-mccoy.livejournal.com]

Bones looked back over at Nyota as she touched his arm, leaving behind Spock. She said something but he didn't hear her. Everything was quiet in his head.

The sickbay door swished closed and Bones stood there, staring at it for a minute before turning back to the pair. He wasn't afraid - there were two security guards with him, and he had his phaser on him... he wasn't afraid for him.

Kirk was gone. Taken from the ship. Was this what was happening to the other ships, when the others appeared on their Enterprise. Was Jim on some alternate universe right now, on some other ship with someone that looked like him?

Pike and his Spock... Bones watched them, because there wasn't anything else he could do. This was a helplessness to a degree he hadn't known before. It was all on Spock now, their Spock, and whomever else he got to assist him in getting Jim back. Had to trust the fucking Vulcan to get back the man he- Fuck...

Fucking useless. That ought to be his middle name.

[dctr-mccoy.livejournal.com]

A few more moments passed and Bones felt like he was going to break something if he didn't calm down a little. Being in here, alone, no one to share this anger with, no one... It was a making a terrible moment even worse.

George. George, who had chased Jim out of here. George, Bones needed George to talk him through this, to help him find out what Spock was doing on the bridge while he was stuck here in Sickbay.

Bones turned to the computer panel, tapping violently against the screen, looking for where George was. His heart stopped when he saw those words: not on board the Enterprise. No, not George too...

Breathing loudly, he tapped at his communicator. "Sickbay to bridge, I need to talk to Spock, now." The urgency was evident in his voice.

[cso-spock.livejournal.com]

He had just taken a seat in his chair at his console--not the captain's chair. There was no logic in sitting there now, he had calculations and data to analyze in his desperate search for Jim--but also because he knew that the seat was not his rightful place. Acting captain or not, it was still Jim's one seat on the bridge, his throne of power. And Spock didn't want to intrude on it just yet in his absence.

Also, he had not told the rest of the ship that the captain had mysteriously disappeared. To take that seat would hint at...the situation. And for now he had no answers if someone asked.

Then the communication. Couldn't McCoy wait at least an hour before panicking, give him some time to find Jim before he started yelling...?

He took the communication at his station. "Yes, McCoy?"

[dctr-mccoy.livejournal.com]

"George Kirk," Bones said, trying to catch his breath - when had he lost it? "I tried hailing him but computer says he's no longer on board, either."

"Spock, he was following Jim," he added. "You think both of them-" He stopped, knowing Spock would know what he meant.

[cso-spock.livejournal.com]

He had entirely been focused on Jim's lack of existence in the immediate vicinity. He had seen George walk out of the sickbay second, but it had not actually occurred to him, in his panic...

Emotions. He resisted cursing himself (as that was, yet again, another emotion). Distracting him. Preventing him from analyzing the entire situation.

"Yes," Spock agreed with him, finally. "That is quite possible."

[dctr-mccoy.livejournal.com]

There was a pause. "Okay. I'll let you know when the bond ends," he said quietly, his voice sort of dead, ending the communication.

He turned back to the pair melding, filled with an empty dread. Kirk was gone. His attention to the two men was half-hearted at best.