Author's note: Okay please no hate because I have no idea what I'm doing, I've only ever seen the new movies so I just kinda made up stuff... If you tell me something I can tweak to help it stick more to the real storyline that would be great, as long as it doesn't mess up my story too much XD

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Darkness. That was all that he remembered.

It had been awhile since their mission had started going south. The ship's right engine had suddenly failed, and the whole craft had been teetering dangerously sideways for over a month, which prohibited them from entering the warp drive. Sure, it was possible, but highly dangerous, and it posed an unnecessary risk to the ship and its superhuman crew. They had left Earth with the intention of never returning, but it was soon looked like they would have to return if they were to survive. That was when they came upon Kronos. A barren, empty planet with a civilization that had barely discovered electricity. They hid themselves in the uninhabited regions, fed off the natural ores of the land and, surprisingly, for a long time were at peace.

John Watson was the medical officer aboard the ship, and his best friend, Khan, the science officer. The two had been nearly inseparable since their first voyage, and it was not hard to see that soon, a romance had begun to blossom between them. It started with 'accidental' nudges and touching of the hands, and progressed to hugging and kissing and, eventually, a promise. Their union was not official, they had simply slipped black bands on each other's fingers, but it was good enough for them. A ring and a promise that someday, eventually, they would be married properly, under an altar, with a real priest and in the presence of their entire crew. They lived everyday, happy with that thought, that hope in their minds. John often dreamed of his wedding, curled up in Khan's embrace, and smiled at the days to come.
But those days were not near. First, there was the war.

The Klingons, the civilization that they had shared the planet with, were attacked by none other than the brilliantly idiotic Starfleet. Their crew had wanted nothing to be apart of it, but the Klingons would not take no for an answer. They begged for weapons and technology, praised them with promises of untold gratitude and riches. Eventually, it was not those empty gifts that made Captain Lestrade give in. It was the thought of finally being able to vanquish a common enemy, armed with a million or so mindless little soldiers to direct, that sent them to battle.

Originally, there were two hundred and fifty of them. After three months, they were down to seventy-four.

Their allies had abandoned them early into the battle, and they continued to fight the Starfleet under the pre tense of being the Klingons, but it soon became clear that one of their ships – no matter how superior their abilities – could not hold up against an entire fleet or a hundred or more Starfleet vessels. They ran out of ammo and the Klingons refused to come to their aid like they had promised.

The deep-freeze option was first proposed when the ship's power failed, and for the first time, the crew found themselves extremely vulnerable. The solution sounded cowardly, and even outright absurd. But, after awhile, all seventy-four of them realized it was the most logical way to proceed. It was a half-hearted attempt to protect themselves, but it was an attempt nonetheless. John had been pleased at Khan for suggesting such a thing, he who was so brilliant and logical and deductive, until he realized it wasn't his lover's idea at all.

He had never seen Khan so angry. There wasn't a specific reason for it, either. None of Khan's relatives, or any of his friends outside the crew, had been harmed by the Starfleet. There was just something about them that ticked the man off, made him absolutely furious. He'd discovered later that there was, in fact, a reason. It was his safety. He would never forget their last conversation, him laying in the tube, about to be frozen.

"Why aren't you getting ready? You should be next to be sent to sleep."

"I'm not being frozen."

"What?!"

"You heard me. I'm not being frozen."

The pain he had felt was indescribable. "I–I don't understand, why would you not want to? I don't –"

"Who do you think is keeping you safe? Someone has to lock you all in from the outside."

"I thought the Captain volunteered to do that!"

"Ah, yes, captain goes down with his ship, isn't that the saying? Well, not this time."

"What are you talking about?"

"I don't trust him. As much as I have been trained to respect him, he's an idiot. I have to make sure the job is done right."

"But what about this? Us? Our rings? Our promise?"

Khan had stared into his eyes, and a tragic, soft smile had appeared on his lips.

"What we had was beautiful. It was better than all the diamonds in the universe, it was more luminous than a thousand burning suns. I would give anything that it could continue on forever, but alas, things that shine so brightly are never meant to be."

"Khan, please…"

He hadn't said anything, simply smiled on that heartbreaking smile.

John had been frozen with a single tear running down his right cheek. It was stopped, frozen forever, like his heart, and his love for that idiotic science officer. For the next three hundred years, all he knew was darkness. He could not dream in such a state, but, occasionally, he could remember, and when he did, he remembered Khan's beautiful features. Above all he remembered their promise which would never come to fruition.

Khan's face was the last thing he had seen, buried in a ship hidden in the depths of the lakes of Kronos, just before he succumbed to the darkness.

And when he awoke, it was the first.