Prologue
Fal-tor-pan. It was his last hope. This was the point at which all this adventure converged. All sacrifices would be in vain if the ancient ritual didn't work. He wanted to be realistic, to brace himself for the possibility that this was nothing but an ancient myth. But how could he be realistic when the lover who he saw die was there before his eyes, as alive as ever, even that as an empty shell?
After all he witnessed in his years in Starfleet, nothing seemed impossible. Time travel technology so advanced that looked like magic, life forms completely unlike anything that had been known until then, teenagers made of silica who wanted Spock as their mother, parallel dimensions, people whose lives moved throw time in reverse, immortality... There was even a giant clone of Spock somewhere in the universe, if nothing happened to him. The word impossible doesn't have any meaning for James T. Kirk. And now, while waiting for a miracle, the only thing that seemed impossible was that his prayers weren't answered.
But one day luck must run out for everyone. That was the lesson he should have learned from his crash with Khan. No matter how close, some things were just out of his reach.
He began to be apprehensive for the delay of the ritual. He turned to Sarek to ask what was going on, and for a fraction of a second he didn't witness the moment when everything went wrong. The priestess screamed, Bones began to convulse and Spock continued as empty as before. He ran toward the altar. He didn't know to which friend he should run to, but the decision was made for him. McCoy was surrounded by healers and priests, so he turned to Spock. However, it didn't take long for him to be pulled out of him by Sarek, who led him out and with a gest indicated that the rest of the Enterprise crew should follow.
"What is happening? Spock! Let me pass. Spock!" Kirk tried to fight Sarek, but even at that age the Vulcan had no trouble dragging him.