Inside Starfleet Medical, Jim was rushed down to the nearest OR, McCoy following closely behind.

"What's the situation?" A nurse called out, she seemed like a new comer.

"Damn idiot drugged himself with everything in my sickbay he could get his hands on."

The same nurse snapped her neck back to look at McCoy in amazement, then looked towards Jim.

"He's the Captain.. is he not?" she called almost breathlessly, barging the gurney into doors.

"Yeah. He's not himself."

"Elaborate?"

"Sudden massive memory loss, then regaining said memories later. He gets delusional, paranoid, we think there's a parasite or something that affects him neurologically" McCoy informed her, spinning the gurney around in position, leaving it next to a table-bed looking platform

"Do you know what drugs he's taken?"

"Not at the top of my head but some big stuff went missing."

The nurse gestured for the CMO to help her haul the young man onto the bed.

"What starship are you assigned to?" she asked while doing it.

"U.S.S. Enterprise, look just start the procedure already, he can't keep waiting any longer." McCoy grumbled, subtly noticing the vital signs pick up again. The CMO narrowed hos eyes.

"You didn't sedate him?"

The nurse remained neutral-faced.

"Can't, could cause a reaction with the drugs in him. We're gonna use strong pain killers instead"

McCoy's face looked like that of a Klingon that had Federation domination taken away at the last second.

"You're going to do what?"

"Unless you have any better ideas"

McCoy looked speechless. And angry.

"So you're just gonna keep him awake while you're doing it? You're gonna scare the shit out of him, man!"

The nurse scowled at him.

"You can use sedation if you want to, but don't blame me if he-"

"I want a different nurse in here." McCoy stated coldly, eyes digging deep into the young woman's soul. They exchanged long angrily stares between each other.

"Yeah. Yeah fine, you're gonna get on my nerves anyway." the nurse threw down a device she was holding, radiating a loud "clang" in the room, then left.

A hand suddenly gripped onto McCoy's arm.

"Woah" he jumped, nearly swatting Jim's hand away until he realised who it was. The younger man looked terrified, gazing up at the doctor for answers. He gently lowered his friend's arm.

"I'll do it on my own," he hissed to himself, slamming shut the door that the nurse left open. "I'm perfectly capable."

Jim looked around the prestige white room, it smelt drenched in... sterileness. He noticed he was lying flat on a black bed surface. It took the man a few moments before he realised where he was.

"Where's ship?" Jim asked slowly with his eyes closed. McCoy turned to face him.

"That tin-can you call a starship is safe, up there somewhere." he pointed to the sky, then approached Jim's side as the younger man was staring at the ceiling in wonder.

McCoy gently turned his head and examined Jim's neck with a finger. He frowned.

The rash was spreading, McCoy needed to do something, now.

Suddenly, Kirk's heartrate spiked through the roof.

"Bones!" he yelled, thrashing to find the doctor desperately.

The doctor only glared at him in exasperation.

"What's the matter now?"

Jim tugged at the doctors coat, pulling him closer.

"Enterprise..." Jim stared at the floor in thought. As McCoy was about to speak, Jim interrupted him. "Needs a new warp core!"

McCoy pried the man's hands off his shirt and shook his head.

"Scotty can deal with that." he told him gently.

Jim looked up at him in awe.

"Scotty is a nice name" he said tiredly. Jim thought that a crewman named Scotty was now imperative.

Just then, Kirk squeezed his eyes shut, a groan escaping from his lips. His stomach was hurling daggers. And the more he focused on it, thinking about how much it hurt, the pain got worse. And worse. And worse. And-

"Jim? Jim open your eyes," a voice was attempting to communicate with him. It was a nice voice, it sounded fast. And nice. And fast.

"Jim if you can hear me, squeeze my hand." the feeling of rubbery texture touched his hand. Jim yelped in surprise and threw his head back in shock, thunderous pain pulsing through his abdomen.

"Alright, we're gonna do this now."

He immediately felt himself fly. It was only for a few seconds, it was a floaty weird feeling. Jim felt himself slipping, falling, he was trying to hold on, trying to stay awake, but he was so tired. He moaned to keep himself awake. Carefully, he opened his eyes, realising he was now flat on his back, staring up at a tense-faced McCoy.

He caught the doctor glide an arm to his neck, which followed by a hiss and a sting. The pain slowly ebbed away. Jim sighed in relief.

"Better?" McCoy asked, noticing the pain creases disappearing from his head.

Jim grunted. "Mhmmm.."

"Now, that nurse is a moron but she was right. I've checked Jim, and there's nothing I can give you to make you sleep that won't cause a reaction. I'll have to do this while you're awake, and it won't hurt a bit, but you need to keep really really still, okay?"

McCoy couldn't stop the nervous energy from affecting his words. He watched Jim's knuckled turn white but nodded. McCoy snapped white latex gloves on, attempting to scare the crap out of Jim, but he merely stared at him hazily.

"B'nss.." he heard the man slur. McCoy looked up at the vitals, they were dropping fast. The next thing he knew, there was freezing cold metal pushed against his neck, a sharp sting, and… floating.

Jim felt washed over and weak. At this point he didn't bother putting up a fight when McCoy approached him with a long weird tube looking thing and stuck it down his throat. He closed his eyes and tried to focus on staying calm.

"This is procedure is seriously some crap from the dark ages" McCoy retorted from above him.

Jim's head felt funny. He needed to sleep. He was desperate for sleep. He was getting so frustrated with the need to sleep that he was fighting back the urge to cry. Jim felt stupid.

"Kid," McCoy began, bringing Jim out of his mind state. He had noticed his eyelids drooping. "You don't need to be awake. If you're tired, you can sleep. I just can't give you any more sedatives" he explained. "In fact it'll be easier."

Jim immediately dropped every effort in staying conscious and plunged into unconsciousness.

Jim was vaguely aware of the scratchy feeling in his throat. The world felt too far away to reach yet but his body was functional. His eyes slowly opened.

And then slammed shut.

God! It was so bright!

Jim attempted to speak, but his attempt only made a weird noise at the back his throat. He growled at the butterflies forming in his stomach. Slowly, while focusing on his raw throat, Jim became more aware that there was something in his airway. Something, some…one?

Oh.

Eyes yanked open. It was Khan! Or Nero! Or… those people from Tarsus IV.
He was going to be strangled to death.
Fidgeting violently, his hands tore at his mouth, trying to remove the object from his throat. He was having an impact—he knew it, the object was budging, but it didn't seem to retreat.
Jim didn't give in—no, he was James T Kirk, he was not going to be strangled by entities of his past!
He clawed at the objects that threatened to end him. God damn it, he needed to try harder!
Jim tugged, pulled and scratched at the being, he wasn't going down like this. No. He wasn't.

Just then, an alarm went off, piercing his ears and almost disturbing him from saving his own life. It meant he was winning! He just had to peel it off.

Kirk felt another presence grab at him—it seemed they wanted several people to finish him; but he wouldn't let that happen! Except this certain 'being' had warmth to them. His throat wasn't warm, his throat was dry and raw. But the entity was grabbing at his arms, pulling them away.
He heard muffled voices, they seemed loud but they weren't. Did that make sense? Jim thought it didn't.

Then, a cooler hand roughly grabbed Jim's arms and forced them above his head. God! He almost was free of his attacker, he wasn't going to let their friend's come and finish him themselves. Just then, the horrible choking feeling being stronger, much much stronger.
This was it. He was a goner. He was most certainly going to—

Then the feeling was gone as quickly as it started. Jim's muscles relaxed. He could breathe. Clearly he had won against his captives. But the hands that were holding his arms were still there! What else were they planning to do to him?! Jim began to panic. The alarms he heard earlier suddenly came back into focus, and they were getting louder. Louder. Louder. It needed to stop. Jim didn't want to hear this. Oh god! He didn't!

The noise had to stop. It was too loud.

Too many noises.

Too many noises.

So many loud noises.

Stop stop stop stop.

He froze. He screamed. Jim screamed. He screamed until he throat became raw once again. He screamed until his throat was on fire. He screamed until the rawness brought pain. He didn't care. It made the noise quieter.
Jim's head suddenly felt fuzzy, a wave of tiredness. He was dizzy.
Yes, he was dizzy. Jim felt dizzy.
Jim felt confused. He started choking again. That confused him. Why was he choking? His captor was gone. His screaming turned into crying. Then his crying turned back into screaming. He needed to stay awake. He was dizzy and was dying, probably. If he screamed then he would stay awake.

McCoy had all his body strength press against Jim's. Spock had his fingers firmly grasped around Jim's arms, practically pinning them to the bed-table-thing. He held out an arm to the tray of hypo's next to him, which was slightly out of reach, slammed an outstretched hand onto the base and grabbed the first hypo he could get a hold of.
He instantly brought it down onto Jim's neck, the younger man jolted and shook as it went in, the doctor throwing the hypo aside and continuing to hold the man in place until he began to settle.

"Jim," he tried to get his attention calmly. "Jim, look at me, you idiot."

Two sluggish eyes slowly swayed over to meet McCoy's face. His frown deepened as the alarms didn't turn off.

"Tell me what you're thinking."

Jim gazed at the man, and for a couple of seconds, didn't process what he said. Finally, he spoke.

"Y' were gon' kill me.. you are.."

McCoy's expression softened at his nonsense, he reached for another hypo, and was about to jam it into his friend's neck before he was stopped by a Vulcan. His face instantly switched to frustration and he craned his neck towards Spock.

"I do not think it is wise to touch him at this time." A stoic expression said.

The doctor groaned inwardly. Taking orders from a Vulcan. He was going to argue back and decided against it.

"Bones.."

McCoy's eyes shot up to look at Jim's. Instantly, he put a reassuring hand on his friend's shoulder and his best smile.

"It'll be okay Jim. You remember what happened?"

The younger blonde took a moment to think. Then shrugged. McCoy sighed.

"You came out your sleep before I was finished," he began, gesturing his arms around wildly and rolling his eyes. "You panicked, I uh.. had to finish up and take the intubation tube out."

There was a subtle nod in reply, followed by a tired groan.

"It was successful. Though of course, knowin' me, you wouldn't expect anything less." The doctor allowed himself to half smile, patting the kid on the head and turning to remove his gloves and mask, which was hanging under his chin.

Jim shivered.

"M' cold.." Jim whined, hiding his face under the pillow.

"I know, lemme get ya' in a gown and back on board the Enterprise. Chapel's gone to restock the sickbay so we should be good to go."

Jim groaned at the thought of sickbay.

"Oh, and Jim?"

The Captain tiredly grunted in acknowledgement.

"Don't you dare scare me like that again."

Jim gave a small chuckle, then submitted himself to a long needed sleep.

Why was he sleeping? Jim needed to save the lives of four thousand people!

Kirk then realised- he fell asleep while pretending to be unconscious. Damn it. He could be too late.

It's going to be my fault.. he thought to himself.

All those people.. dead because of me.

He heard footsteps.

Coming closer.

"Captain,"

Oh god, Kodos had his Captain. He needed to act.

He could save them.

"Captain I am aware that you are entirely conscious."

Act. Now!

Wham! Jim's fist collided with a face.

Yes, he'd got him!

There was silence.

"Captain, please, open your eyes."

Jim's fingers ached. That was a pretty hard punch.

"Captain, if you do not show signs of correct responsiveness, I will have to consult with the doctor."

Jim froze. Kodos was going to hold back on killing him?

"Aarrrgggh!" Jim bolted up and jumped onto a strange man. This wasn't Kodos. This guy had pointy ears and weird eyebrows.

His eyes scanned the area. Where the hell was he?

"Doctor McCoy to sickbay" he heard the man say. If it was a man. If it was.. human.
Jim stared down at the weirdly tint skinned man beneath him, that he had pounced on. He wondered if his eyes were playing tricks on him.
The creature, whatever it was, stared right back at him, then raised an eyebrow with a slight smirk.
Jim narrowed his eyes. Then reached for the ears of the strange being.

"Fascinated, Captain?"

Jim remained quiet, his veins still pumping with adrenaline.

"It is only me. It is Spock."

Suddenly, the doors hissed open, revealing a slightly older man, who was striding into the room absentmindedly, before spotting Kirk and breaking into a dead-sprint.

"Jim!" he had called, rushing to his side, ignoring the fact that he was, for some reason, pinning Spock to the ground.
The second that the man inched towards him, Jim jumped up and scrambled backwards, attempting to get away from… Kodos. Yes.

His brain was fuzzy, he wasn't sure what Kodos looked like, but these men felt familiar, especially the one trying to go near him now, so he must be Kodos.
Perhaps Jim had attempted to remove his captor and torturer from his mind.

But Jim's stomach burned when he saw him. So this must be Kodos. It had to be.

"No! No, no god don't hurt me!" Jim tipped over backwards against the wall, hitting his head but continuing to keep his distance.

The words "damn it" were muttered by one of the men.

"Jim, come and sit on this bed." a voice demanded of him.

Slowly, he turned his head and gazed up at the source of the voice.

"At least sit on it or put your foot on it man, I need to read your vitals!"

Jim shook his head and swallowed at the dizziness that washed past him.

That man was going to kill him. Kodos... would kill him. But Jim couldn't move. His tiredness dragged him down.

He was stuck here.

He was going to die at the hands of this sadist.

He wanted to go home. Where was home? Jim felt a build-up of butterflies in his stomach when he couldn't remember.

"Jimmy," the voice was closer now. Kodos was walking towards him.

This was it.

His eyes spotted a device in Kodos' hands. Surely this was the weapon at which he will die.

"D'nt c'm nr me wiv vhah hing" Jim slurred, shutting his eyes. The world was draining away.

Two warm hands gripped onto his arms, sending Jim into choked sobs.

"Please, don't-don't, kill me, don't.. don't-don't-"

His begging was stopped by a cold hissing metal making contact with the front of his neck.

Oh god, he had been shot.

"No-"

"It's alright Jim."

"No.."

"Jim, it's alright, just breathe-"

"No!"

"In through your nose, out through your mouth." Kodos' voice sounded surprisingly soft. The edges of his vision blackened.

He still had so much he wanted to do..

"Please, I don't want to die!"

"Jim, you're not dyin', I gave you a sedative to help you calm down, that's all."

It was at that moment when Jim's defences dropped and he couldn't take it any longer.

"I'm so confused!" he cried, hitting his fist on the floor weakly. A hand brushed against his forehead, followed by hushed disapproving sounds.

"Why you confused kid? What's goin' on in that head?"

Kirk rolled onto his stomach, pushing his head under his arms and quietly sobbed.

McCoy had enough of this. He motioned for Spock to come over with an arm, and turned back to Jim.

"Jim, I'm going to give you another sedative, alright?"

No response.

"It's gonna make ya' feel real tired," he explained, leaning forward to place a hand on his friend's neck. "Just don't fight it and it'll be fine." he quickly jammed the hypos contents into his friend, rubbing the injection site on his neck.

Jim immediately slumped, Spock catching him, a firm hand latching onto his arm.

For a second, Spock tensed up, keeping that stoic expression on his face; but quickly settled.

"What was that?" the doctor asked.

"I am a touch telepath." Spock reminded him. McCoy made an "o" shape with his mouth and retrieved his communicator from his pocket.

"McCoy to sickbay, I need some help in my office.. it's the Captain." he flipped the device shut again, placing it aside and running his free hand through Kirk's matted hair.

"Jesus, kid.." he muttered.

Spock straightened his posture, and pulled his shirt neatly.

"Doctor, I have an inquiry"

McCoy frowned and turned to face the Vulcan.

"You could have just asked it just then."

"I wish to convey my concern at the rate the Captain is being treated," he cocked his head sideways, "You appear to be treating his symptoms, but you are not diagnosing and treating the main cause that ails him."

McCoy shoved his hands in his pockets, realised how unsanitary that was, and removed them.

"I'm fairly certain there's an intelligent creature messing with his brain- it's neurological for sure. I just can't find the right time to scan him without something happening" the doctor answered.

A small groan was uttered from the bed.

Jim cracked open his eyes, waves of memories coming back to him.

McCoy smiled. "Hey kid." he said, keeping a sedative at the corner of his eye.

Jim couldn't find the strength to answer his friend. All his energy was gone. He closed his eyes again.

"Just hypo me.. Bones"

McCoy looked taken aback.

"What?" his eyebrows furrowed.

"I said.. just hypo me."

Bones thinned his lips and scowled. It wasn't like Jim to admit to needing a hypo, let alone allowing Bones to give him one.

"Did you have a nightmare?" he asked instead.

"Mmm.. no, I just want a hypo."

McCoy sighed through his teeth and sat on the edge of Jim's biobed, taking a quick look at the readings. All was normal.

"Talk to me Jim."

Jim remained silent.

"What's wrong, Jim?"

The silent man shrugged. McCoy put a firm hand on his shoulder.

"I'm not giving you that hypo until you tell me what's wrong." he stated.

That did it for Jim.

He smacked McCoy's hand away and shuffled to the other side of the biobed.

"I just don't want to be awake, okay?"

Bones stood up.

"You want me to sedate your ass because you don't want to be here?" he grumbled. "You want to stop waking up, is that it?"

Jim answered by shoving his head under the pillow, curling himself into a ball.

"It's never ending, Bones!" he yelled into the poor pillow. "Something happens, then something else, then something else, and then I have to keep suffering and you do NOTHING"

McCoy felt like he'd just been kicked in the stomach.

"Jim, I'm doing my best, kid." he sat back down. "I've told you before, I've never dealt with this before, it's new to me."

"Do you like watching this happen? Is it a chance to show off your great doctor skills?" Jim hissed, his head turned to the left. "If you even have any fucking skills as a doctor, you sad stupid piece of-"

"Damn it Jim!" McCoy yelled, grabbing the hypo from the tray and inspecting its contents, about to plunge it into the man's neck.

"No!" Jim shouted, eyes widening, sparking the alarms on the bed to sound. He started hyperventilating. "Don't! Bones, please, I'm sorry!" he shuffled slightly too far backwards and almost fell off the bed.

Bones slammed the hypo down and turned to Chapel.

"Get Spock. Now."

The nurse quickly nodded and hurried off, while Jim still stared half petrified at his friend. His eyes glazed over. The world began to spin. A second alarm on the bed sounded.

"Bones..." he breathed, gripping onto the mattress to keep himself awake.

Bones was already checking over him with a medical scanner, looking puzzled.

"What the hell brought this on.." he muttered, pushing Jim back down to the bed. "Try and relax, it's gonna be OK," he began, looking for another hypo. Jim visibly shuddered.

"No more hypos!" he yelled.

Spock decided to make an appearance at that time.

"What can I do for you, doctor?"

"No hypos, Jim" McCoy reassured him, before turning to Spock.

"Do ya think you'll be able to upgrade the PADD to detect moving substances every 2 to 3 seconds?" he asked.

Spock craned his neck to the side.

"It is a possibility. But may I ask why?"

"I think it's about time we test our theory on there being some kinda intelligent life, screwing around with Jim, don't you think?"

The Vulcan raised an eyebrow.

"I believe so."

McCoy turned back to Jim, who was eying him intensely.

"You sure you don't want that hypo?" he asked sarcastically, waltzing to the monitors.

"Nah… I'm good" Jim sat up. McCoy stepped over and yanked him back down.

"You even think about movin' from that spot kid and I'll give you a reason to want a hypo"

"That a threat Bones?" he tested what would happen if he turned on his side. McCoy narrowed his eyes but did nothing more. "I can end your entire career.. by dismissing you—if you hypo me without my consent" Jim sat back up. Bones rolled his eyes and pushed him back down.

"Kid, I'd happily get thrown off this ship and into the deep dangerous void of space wrapped in darkness and silence if it meant keeping your stupid ass safe" McCoy kept his voice low. Didn't want anyone to think he was being sympathetic—or dare it be said—nice, now, would we?

Jim gave him a long stare, then, by some God-given gift from the sweet not-dangerous not-wrapped-in-darkness-and-silence cascade of miracles above, he slowly leant an arm out to McCoy.
He smiled, then decided to pat his shoulder instead of give a snarky comment. He took Jim's arm.

"We're gonna work this out kid. Gonna fix you up, got it? You an' me."

Jim nodded hastily, McCoy noticing he was staring at his arm. Obviously wanting said hypo to be given as soon as possible.

"Just trust me", he added. Jim smirked.

"When have I ever not?"

TBC