Summary: While everyone thought he was 17, Pavel was actually 100 years old. But after 37 years of mental abuse, he befriends a race of cave women to acquire their youth serum.
A/N: It's 12:44 am. I've been up for over 24 hours. What you're about to read is weird, non-cannon and completely out of whack. Don't hold it against me.
Rated: T...I don't know why, I'm too tired to think.
ANOTHER NOTE! For those who mentally blocked out the first, this is NON-CANNON and probably OOC. Don't like? Take your stubborn ass somewhere else, then.
"Pavel, welcome back." The young man bowed low to the ground before raising his eyes up to the creature in front of him. Even in the darkness, her pale blue skin mysteriously radiated, it's white markings standing out dramatically. Her curly green hair swept down her back and tickled at her bare legs.
"Fortina. Pleasure to see you again. Is she...?"
"She is ready. Follow me, please." Fortina turned on her heels, digging up dirt as she twisted, and led Chekov away into the darkness. Her navy blue dress fanned out around her legs as she glided forward, feeling the boy's presence as they walked in silence.
Chekov used to be afraid, worried that she was taking him somewhere different, somewhere she could lock him up and leave him there. The idea of climbing into a dark hole and wandering miles below the surface of the planet freaked him out, but he came to welcome the sudden warmth of the cave as darkness swallowed them. He no longer needed to strain his ears in order to hear Fortina's nearly silence footsteps against the earth.
Chekov had been coming here continuously since he was 37 years old. At first it was an accident; he was exploring another part of the planet that humans seemed to be scared of and he slipped. He slid right into the woman standing in front of him, and she brought him where he needed to be.
He didn't even realize that he was looking for a new start, but when they offered, he couldn't say no. He had no other choice.
"This was, please." Fortina lifted her dress and stepped over a pile of molten rock that attempted to block the doorway. Usually the women let the rock build up until the entrance was almost entirely blocked, then they would break it with their bare hands. Chekov had witnessed it once, and spent five years fearing the strange creatures with their astounding strength.
"Wait, please. She will be with you shortly." Chekov bowed once more and Fortina returned his bow before she headed down a separate cave. Chekov took that moment to look around at the familiar room. The black walls glittered with shimmering rocks. Tiny cracks in the walls dripped lava from them, but it wasn't normal. The lava in this cave was blue. Something about the genetic variations of the cave created another race entirely, and few humans knew about them.
"Pavel, what a pleasure! Sit, please." Chekov bowed to the Empress before he took a seat against warm stone.
The three women before him looked similar to Fortina, yet they were so different. They had the same pale blue skin that gave them an eerie, dead appearance. On the other hand, the two women to the side had extremely short hair, close to their head, and both of them were blond. The female in the middle had paper-straight hair that dragged on the floor like a wedding train. The long strands were a very light shade of pink. Chekov had long known that the Rashinn women, the "women of the caves," as they were often called, used hair as a status symbol. The longer the hair, the higher their ranking.
Chekov had once gotten the courage to ask why the guards had such short hair, to which he was told that "guards are disposable, assigned by parental figures who do not wish them to be associated with the family."
"How are you doing, Pavel?" She smiled, baring her oddly tiny teeth. Genovela was perhaps the sweetest of all the Rashinn women, though they were all polite. But Genovela thought it her duty to make peace with outsiders.
This was why she liked Chekov so much. He was the first outsider she had seen in over one-hundred years.
"Wery good, zhank you. And how are you, My Lady?"
"I'm wonderful, my dear friend. Superb." Her smile faltered for half a second, but it was long enough for Chekov to notice.
"Are you sure?" She frowned and flicked a waist-length strand of hair away from her yellow eyes.
"There is...a girl here. She wishes to leave the caves, to experience other worlds. I cannot allow that, but she is...She is a daughter of mine." Chekov nodded his understanding.
When Rashinn women were crowned as Empress, they took an oath to put their own children above all others, even their own desires and those of the entire clan. They could not deny a daughter anything she wished, but allowing them out...
"I cannot have that, you know?" Genovela whispered. Her guards shuffled with unease. They were not used to seeing their Empress show such emotions.
Genovela glared at the ladies and muttered a soft, disgruntled phrase, and her guards left them alone.
"I cannot allow her to leave. She will expose us. You have been nice enough to keep our existence a secret; however, all it would take is one man to see her, and that is the end of us. They will search and eventually find us.
"I understand, My Lady."
"Oh, listen to me ranting to you, as if that is what you came here for! Hold on just one moment, if you please. I will have Teya bring the serum." Genovela called out to her guards in Rashinn and one of them walked away again, the one he assumed was Teya. Lady Genovela smiled at Chekov.
"It has been some time, has it not?" The boy nodded and fidgeted in his seat. It was getting overly-hot, and his butt wasn't built to handle such heat. "How long?"
He could have easily calculated the exact number of years in Rashinn years, but the ladies of the cave did not appreciate a man with too much intelligence, so he calculated in human years.
"I came here when I vas 37, so it has been 63 years, My Lady." She smiled, and he watched the airy look in her eyes as she calculated the years in her world. 203. Their years were much shorter than human's.
"And you do not wish to discontinue? You do not wish to die as all humans must?" Her eyes pierced into his, but he shook his head instantly.
"Nyet. I vill not die until I have lived."
"But you have lived for 100 years, my friend. Longer than many humans, even with modern medicines. You do not think that is enough?" Again, he shook his head. She leaned forward and placed a hand on his cheek, her fingers pressed against his hairline in the Rashinnean symbol of friendship and trust. "What are you waiting for?"
Before he could respond, Teya came back with a glass bowl filled with purple ooze. Genovela pulled back and straightened her back as Teya wordlessly handed the bowl to Chekov. He stared into the ooze and watched the steam rise from it's thick liquid.
"I must warn you, friend, you may find a day where you wish to live as all humans do. Those potions last for five years. If you changed your mind-" Chekov tilted his head back and raised both eyebrows at her. It was a polite way of interrupting someone, something only two close individuals were allowed to do.
"I can promise you, Lady Genovela, zat I vill not regret zhis. Zhere is still much to live for in my world." With this, he downed the thick liquid, trying not to gag as it slid down his throat slowly, and licked the remainder of his lips. He was surprised to see Lady Genovela eying him with a wary expression.
"Is zhere somzhing wrong, My Lady?" He handed the bowl back to Teya.
"I think of you as my friend, Pavel, and as my brother." Genovela held her hand out and Pavel took it. "I fear that you will one day lose interest in this world, and long for the afterlife." Chekov smiled and gripped her hand firmly.
"Zat day vill come ewentually, and ven it does I vill let life run it's course. Until zen, I must do vhat I can to change vhat must be changed. For now, I vill stay young."
"Alright, dear friend. Come back whenever you would like to visit. I would very much like the opportunity to walk the gardens once more with you."
"I vill return shortly, My Lady." Chekov kissed her blue hand softly and allowed Fortina - who appeared silently by the exit - to escort him out of the caves. He waved at the Empress before leaving and followed Fortina silently outside. When they were once more under the stars, and had reached the border between their world and his, Fortina grabbed his arm.
"Why are you doing this, Chekov? Most humans do not wish to live past 80, and yet, you still push forward at 100."
"No, dear lady. I am not 100 years old." She quirked an eyebrow at him and he took a deep breath of the cool air.
"The world is my home, and it vill continue to be for many years. I am 17."
Again, non-cannon haters can suck it. (suck what, exactly? I'll get back to you when I have an answer.) I was tired and wrote this, so I'm aware that it's very weird. Please REVIEW! You will make typing this entirely worth it. :)