Hello. I have had a nasty case of writers block in this story. That's partially why the chapter has been excruciatingly slow in coming.
I have also been busy with school and stuff, so... yeah. this story is going to be closed out soon so that I can keep doing other things... like school. Anyways. I am debating halfway or not to add this story into the Private Tragedy canon, but I'm not sure. I would like your feedback. :)
At any rate, my next project might be finish Dawn, and maybe get back into Down, Not Out, if requested by popular demand... If nothing is stated explicitly, assume that I am working on my sequel to Private Tragedy, which I am thinking will be named Enigma.
Warnings apply this chapter.
Why? It was a question to ponder. So ponder it in between the screams. The wails. The tears. The snapping of bones.
Please! It was just a word. At that, a word one would speak with the intent to invoke pity. So speak it while you can, while you still have breath to do so, that perhaps they might have mercy and relent.
Except... they never relented. They never stopped. They enjoyed the screams. The pleading made no effect.
A tear slid down William's cheek. His best friend, John, had just been taken away, out of the cell. William knew exactly what would happen. John would come back, beaten and bloodied, and Jason would have to find a way to keep him from dying. It was the same every single week. One of the seven boys in the cell would be hauled away, they would... earn their stripes, as it was called, and then be thrown back in with the rest a few hours later. It was up to their comrades to keep them alive until the next time.
"Khan." A man stood in the doorway to the cell.
William stood. "Stop calling me that! I'm no... Khan," he spat.
"You are the leader of the Augments, because you are the son of their Khan. You will be the new Khan."
William snarled back, "Not by your declaration, I'm not. I don't care what you say, Aaron!"
"You will," the tall man said. "We are the ones who declared your ancestors to be royalty. Without us, you would have floundered in the darkness of your own stupidity."
Jason gave an enraged shout and ran towards the barrier, only to be thrown back by the electrical field.
Aaron LeClerk gave a half-crazed smile. "Careful, healer. We wouldn't want you to die prematurely, would we?"
William gave a low growl. There was no way Aaron was going to get away with taunting his friends, especially not with the way he treated them. "What do you want, LeClerk? I don't have time for you."
"Oh, you will." He motioned to someone else who was behind the doorway to the cell, presumably a guard. "You will definitely have time for me."
The electrical field fell for a moment, and William was only able to get one last glance at Jason's prone form before the guards hauled them both away in different directions. William went down the hallway towards the... the Death Zone.
William continued to growl at the guards who were holding him by the arms and dragging him down the hallway.
They suddenly turned to another door and entered another room... William was silent after that.
...
Everything hurt. It hurt still. His body had been ravaged by the Metamorphosis, and... well... that was honestly a good enough explanation anyways.
He felt so much different. Everything felt so much smaller.
The guards unstrapped him, and he groaned in pain, his voice hoarse from screaming. He promptly fell forward, shocked to find how little of his arms the guards actually could grip when they grabbed him. He glanced down at the floor of polished metal, using it as a mirror.
William blinked. He was... huge. He looked like a carbon-copy his father. Broad shoulders, powerfully built, but strangely thinner than the average human.
He roared at his reflection- he didn't want to be like that! He wanted... he wanted to just be a ten-year-old, like he was. He grabbed for the nearest implement he could find (it happened to be a scalpel), and scored rough marks in the floor with the stainless steel blade.
In response, strong hands grabbed him and forced him back onto the table.
An abundance of tears began to flow down William's face, and he wailed. It just... it hurt. Mentally and physically. He hated it.
How they could do such things... was unbelievable.
He was unable to think on that for too long, because the same strong hands hauled him off the table, and dragged him out of the doorway.
Something else occurred to him. He had lived. He had lived through the Death Zone. He was eager to see his friends again, and tell them that it was possible to survive.
Then the men carrying him took an unexpected route to a different cell. They stood in front of it for a moment, before they opened the door, and threw him in. William sprawled out on the metal floor just as they shut the door.
He just laid there for a moment- he tasted blood in his mouth, and he was almost tempted to think that there was internal bleeding. Well. Splayed out on the floor was no honorable position to die. He pulled himself up to rest on his hands and knees. He grit his teeth against the pain in his arms and torso, but couldn't seem to get any further.
A soft hand cupped his cheek, and lifted his head.
He blinked to let his eyes adjust to the bright lights above, and as soon as they did, he beheld an utterly angelic face. Benevolent emerald eyes stared back at him, and he could honestly say that he fell in love.
...
"Dad- are you alright?" Michael stared up at his father. "You didn't have a seizure, did you?"
Khan blinked. His gaze drifted back to his son. "Oh, no. I'm fine. Just a... a memory."
"Bad?"
Khan straightened his suit, as he had done several times already. It was in a retro style- a close tuxedo. "Argh... Bad enough. Do you think that this looks alright?"
Michael tipped his head. "You look as good as ever, Dad. The suit looks nice. Does mine?" The little boy made a slow circle. He had gotten better at walking with his new prosthetic leg, and was beginning to be able to run.
Khan grinned broadly and lifted his son up. "Of course it looks good." He placed a light kiss on his son's cheek. "You're growing up into such a handsome young man."
Michael grinned, and fought off the kiss, as all boys his age would.
Khan couldn't help the tears that began welling in his eyes. It had been such a long time since he had seen his family all together... And yet... somehow there was still the desperation of a fugitive in the back of his mind. Where could they go now, now that everyone was awake. Surely not back to earth, their home...
...
Kirk glanced around at the conference room. Yes, the Augments had commandeered the Enterprise, but the fact that they had done so just to throw a big party... It felt very, very off. Maybe it was just him. He liked parties, sure... But Augments? They'd commandeer a ship to have one (which just felt downright weird to say... But still.
His gaze slowly drifted to see Khan and Michael standing side by side, a figurative Me-and-MiniMe. He bit his lip. as much as he hated the idea of the ship being commandeered, and his crew being held captive, he couldn't shake the feeling that this was really important; that Khan and his family needed this. And then maybe it could simply result in an exile. A woken exile, perhaps, on some strange planet.
He slowly walked towards Khan, and the Augment turned to face him. "So... William... How does this... am I supposed to do anything... ceremonially, or anything?"
Khan shook his head. "No, no. You won't be required to do anything. It's just us. We renew vows. Our marriage stands the test of time."
Kirk's brow furrowed. "Literally, she saw you in person less than a month ago... in her time, at least."
"Shut up. I kept my fidelity during the year interim... She's here."
All in the conference room stood up when the door slid open. The inside of the room was lit less than the outside hall, so the woman was momentarily shrouded in a silhouette. She took two steps forward, and Kirk's jaw... suffice it to say, his jaw gaped. She was absolutely beautiful. Angelic, even. A light silvery blue gown... pooling out behind her like physical moonlight. Her face was covered by a thin netted veil, but Kirk could still see pale skin and near-glowing emerald eyes.
He felt a sharp jab in the ribs, and it was at that moment he remembered that he was staring at another man's wife. Not that something like that had ever stopped him before, but... ah... this wasn't exactly the kind of family that is good to mess with, apparently.
Khan stepped forward when his wife reached the threshold, and he took her arm in his.
"Greetings to all who are gathered here today; thank you for being willing to attend. I realize that the circumstances are quite strange, awkward, even... But trust me... it means more to all of us than you know..." He turned to his wife. "From this time forward, from now until death do we part, I solemnly swear to have you and hold you, in sickness and in health, triumph and defeat, joy and sorrow..."
Kirk almost had to look away when the man kissed his wife... it almost didn't even seem right, with the gravitas of the situation. But he saw Michael beaming... and no wonder. They were finally all a family again.
With a jolt, he reminded himself that Khan was guilty of murder, and there was no way in hell that Starfleet, or, for that matter, Starfleet at large, would take this kindly.
And so the question arose: Yes, they were all reunited, a man and his family, his crew... but now what to do with them?