Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek.
A/N: As several people pointed out to me in reviews, I put Picard when I meant to say Pike. I had watched the scene where Kirk and Picard meet on Youtube earlier, so Picard was stuck in my head. I've fixed it now, and thanks to those who pointed out my error.
I could never be James T. Kirk. At least, not the James Kirk you knew, the one who defied godlike beings on a daily basis, could out-logic even Spock if need be, the man who swore the Enterprise was his only love and then destroyed it all, to rescue your soul, knowing you might not even remember him once all was said and done. Not that I wouldn't try to rescue Spock if something happened to him, but I am not the man you knew.
Too many things were changed the day the Romulans came though that portal and killed my father. It set off a chain of events that led to the destruction of almost an entire class of Starfleet cadets and me gaining command of the Enterprise much too soon in life. Of course, that command was not given to me willingly, like it had been given to your James Kirk. I had to take it, from the hands of your younger counterpart, on your orders. But you were right about that. Spock was never meant to be Captain of the Enterprise. Oh, he could do it, easily. He'd be a very efficient captain, make all the logical decisions and follow the rules. But that's not what Starfleet needs in its captains, not anymore. Starfleet has made too many mistakes by keeping to the old way of things. They need someone to shake it up, which is what Pike had in mind when he challenged me to join Starfleet all those years ago. A captain needs to be able to defy Starfleet in order to save an entire planet, to lie to a super-intelligent being without being caught, to do what most people would consider impossible.
At least your Kirk and myself have that in common. The disbelief in no-win scenarios, that we can achieve the impossible. In both cases, though, it's largely thanks to having you (or my Spock) by our respective sides to ground us and support us. Had things been different, I might have grown up to be remarkably similar to your James T. Kirk. Of course, then we would probably not have met and I would have had no idea that there was another me out in the universe, albeit one as broken as I am now.
And there's the main difference: Your James T. Kirk, despite the difficulties he faced, despite being told it was impossible, despite being sucked into the Nexus and (supposedly) dying twice, could still forgive people who had wronged him, could still trust those he should. Me, I'm too jaded by the difficulties in my life; my mom being always distant, leaving me and Sam with that asshole Frank which prompted me to almost take a suicide leap off the side of a canyon. Even now, I still am not completely trusting of Starfleet. I know there are people who question the decision to make me a Captain, thinking I am too young, too reckless, too hard to control. And they're right. But again, that's something I have in common with your James T. Kirk, only for him, he ended up changing Starfleet forever. Maybe I'll do that, or maybe I'll crash and burn horribly. Only time will tell.
But I do know one thing: no matter what timeline, no matter what star date, no matter how screwed up the universe becomes, James T. Kirk and S'chn T'gai Spock will always find each other on the starship Enterprise.