Sorry, for the long update. I've been applying to colleges and that takes priory over fanfiction, and practicing for the ACT. Plus I've been developing new ideas. Sorry again.

Now get your tissues ready because this chapter is sad. Now if you're wondering why this chapter is named Endless Night. Endless Night is a song in the Lion King the broadway is link if you want to listen to it. I do recommend you listen to it, before reading this chapter.

watch?v=f7AeTFYsBgc

Chapter 26

Endless Night

"You don't know, Robert, you don't know. They took everything I was. They used me to kill and to destroy, and I couldn't stop them! I should have been able to stop them! I tried. I tried so hard. But I wasn't strong enough! I wasn't good enough! I should have been able to stop them. I should, I should."
"So, my brother is a human being after all. This is going to be with you a long time, Jean-Luc. A long time."

- Jean-Luc Picard and Robert Picard, Family

Silence…cold unfeeling silence…there was no love, no love from the Collective, no love from Locutus, just silence. Empty silence. He was alone. Again. He felt alone. There was nobody to guide his path, nobody to talk to. Nobody answers. Just one; him. He couldn't find his way…home…where was home? The Collective? The Enterprise? He had no answer. How could he? There were no others. He couldn't find his way home. Home an empty dream, that long since faded from his memory.

Nix paced cell, before slamming himself on to the sink. A person reflected from the mirror, a person he didn't knew. A fading identity. Not a drone nor a human, but some sort of Frankenstein's monster. It didn't seem real, slowly with his metal armored hand he touch his cheek then went up to his eyepiece, that was nothing more than a numb, sliding down it. His cheek was warm like the rest of his body spreading like a disease. He hadn't looked himself in the mirror for years. Who was he? He pushed himself away.

No…no…the Collective gave him an indenity…Nix of Borg when he was assimilated. Order. Wesley Crusher didn't exist. Gone forever…but a small part of him felt like he was stuck in a nightmare for the last two and half years. Silently protesting his actions when following orders from the Collective. He was perfected, given order, the Collective eradicated all humanity within him. Shown the truth about individuals…She shown him the truth and saw the potential in him when he was broken. Rebuilt him and gave me a purpose in life again…

Fear. Fear was the only emotion he knew now. Endless fear. His small mind being crushed under the weight of the millions of screaming voices becoming a imbroglio thatwas the Collective. No thoughts were his own. He hadn't known fear until this…horror. It was like he was a little kid again, scared of the monster in the closest. Shaking with fear, circled up in a tight ball crying, and waiting for the monster to stop trying to grab him and pull him into the dark abyss.

The metallic spiderweb like veins had sunk into his skin leaving it bloodless and gray; belonging to the Borg. It was like cold liquid metal was poured into his veins.

He could hear his own pulse pounding in his ear, Wesley felt the streams of nanoprobes slowing his body down in places that he hadn't been aware of. His face didn't burn red or tears didn't form in his eyes from this humiliation as it was no longer his to control. Wesley wished this could be all be over. The drones had left him striped and naked, exposing his pale daunt soft skin to the humidity. A drone stop by the metal table, its blank eyes studying his nude body; he didn't like people staring at his body it made extremely uncomfortable and self-conscious. He would gladly die than go though the rest of his assimilation.

He knew that Captain Picard would send an away team and any minute they would burst though the metal door, with phasors in hand, to rescue him. His hope burn like a touch. They would rescue him. The drone, who was studying him, turned away. The electric razor continued to buzz against his skull shaving off hair, from the corner of his eye he saw his brown locks fluttering down to the metal ground, before being vacuumed up.

Wesley heard the sound of two parts clicking together. The drone came back with an needle like attachment on its left hand, the needle was five inches long almost medieval in its appearance. The other drone came up hooking clear tubes to the attachment on the other drone. The tubes pumped up an amber liquid that turned translucent blueish-emerald then tar black, still having splashes of amber and emerald. It slush up slowly making its way up. The drone aimed the needle straight down plunging into his bicep, rippling pain surged though his body. The offending liquid made its way into his muscle, flowing and taking the shape of the contours of his muscle before stinging caustically like acid. The drone held it there for five or four seconds before slowly taking it out before plugging it deep into another muscle. Wesley gave a silent scream, as the liquid stop stinging then became like thousands of claws ripping and tearing his muscles apart. His eyes drifted toward the door, any minute they would come; the fire started to dwindle.

In his abdomen it felt like snakes were slithering in and around his vital organs; the nanoprobes had multiplied enough to form bigger implants. It was a weirdest sensation that Wesley had ever felt, it was like they were going to burst out of him like in the old 2D video…oh yes, Alien. His organs sank under their weight when the implants attached, it made him want to throw up, before firming up. A drone surgeon on his left side had two cybernetic appendages, one made of with a curve scalpel, buzz-saw, and a dermal regenerator, while the other had a pincer and bizarre needles, it took its scalpel and open Wesley's tender abdomen, before taking the pincer and folding the skin back. The drone back away and let another drone came with implants; neural processor, thoracic assembly and choronometric node among others. Then the drone started to place the implants in his body it was like being awake during surgery, but without the sedative.

The two drones working on his exo-plating came back, he could vaguely see hair-thin fibers from inside the plating. Metal plating were graft onto his human form, the fibers weren't fibers at all but mirconnectors. Wesley's eyes widen when the feeling of a million needles being knifed into his leg, but it didn't stop there…the needle like fibers weaved though his muscles planting its roots, sending shockwaves of pain to his brain.

When will they come? His senses were overload with the multitude of pain and his whole body went numb, no longer feeling the pain, but Wesley's brain went into a state of mindlessness; unaware of time or himself. There wasn't a personality or a soul in the body and so his body became like a doll, lifeless and his eyes never shined or blinked and so when the Borg surgeon turned his head exposing his left ear, it went bonelessly landing on the other side with a soft "thud."

A timeless period passed, rather it was for a few minutes, a couple hours or even several days, Wesley didn't know before being aware of himself again. The operation seem endless. He wished that it was all a nightmare, an endless nightmare, but it wasn't, it was real, all too real. Something cold hit his heart, squeezing it, trying to crush it into ash. His eidetic memory was both a blessing a curse, snapshotting the best times, but this wasn't something he wanted to remember. The worst part was he would recall everything that happened to him in perfect detail, as if it just happen. It was like the Borg was taking a piece of who he was; a part of his soul. It wouldn't be long before only an ember of his humanity was left; a small spark to keep the cybernetic implants functioning.

A probe came down from the high ceiling maneuvering toward his face, once it stopped. Two ultra-thin needles came out, a drone forced his eyelids open, as it extended and got closer and closer then inside his pupils. The needles secreted a liquid, it was like ants were crawling inside his eyes. Before, finally pulling out, Wesley fell into a world of infinite darkness.

He realized by now that the away team wasn't coming. His family wasn't coming. Captain Picard, his mother, Commander Riker, Data, Geordi, Worf…abandoned him. He never felt more empty or alone in his whole life. Alone. He was alone. Forgotten. He had nothing to live for. His dream of becoming a Starfleet Officer, gone. Wesley Crusher broke. The Borg Collective broke him. They broke his resistance.

Wesley wanted to curl up and cry. The pressure of the Collective retreated. The voices slowly faded away, leaving his mind. He could think again, but Wesley didn't noticed he was so afraid.

"How much you look like Locutus…" Said an ageless, feminine voice. The voice was somehow warm, filled with emotions; affection, happiness…love and it relaxed him, fear left his being, he was no longer afraid. Wesley realized that he could control his head and he's voice returned.

"How do know Captain Picard?" Maybe he was hallucinating or this was another individual being assimilated. No…No that would be wrong, it didn't make sense in his mind. He was just too tired to figure it out. The voice felt ancient, before the time of the Federation, it been there since the beginning…primordial…instinctual…deeply impeded in the Collective. Guiding, preparing, perfecting…one voice…one drive…Something he already knew, but somehow didn't know.

"Knew him…cared for him…loved him," Well…that was left out…He got most his information from his mother, but he never heard this side of the story, before.…why would the Captain leave this out? There was a history here, "I regarded him as my equal," A long history, "I can still sense his thoughts. No matter how hard he tries to escape, he'll still be part of us. Always,"

"Who are you?" His voice strained, at least he would learn more about the Borg Collective's structure.

"I am the Borg." The being lowered herself into her sculpted metal body; rolling back her shoulders. She strode over, her heels clicking against catwalk to the child and the drones back away with a mere thought. He strained his eyes, getting them a little ways open, he wanted to see her. She gently forcing them down again, "Rest." A cold damp hand cupped his cheek, stoking it with her thumb. It remind him of a mother's affection and he nuzzled into it.

He furrowed his brow, "That can't be true…the Borg has a collective consciousness,"

"You'll understand with time, child." Cryptic…but not exactly the answer that he was hoping for,

"Why should I trust you?" The hand recoiled. Speaking with anger and disgust. He was just so angry, "Your Borg,"

The woman shook her head, her voiced cooled, but remained alluring she spoke with wisdom of thousands, "I know your frightened. All you know is fear. Fear about us. Fear about something you don't understand. Your mind is capable of so much more. Listen and you'll learn that there nothing to be frightened off. Listen. Just listen," Wesley shook his head, frightened, tears streamed down his face. She wiped them away. He didn't want to hear them again; the screaming, the loneliness, and the claws that ripping information out of his mind. He didn't want to go back.

"Please, please…I don't want too. I feel so alone when they come into my mind. Please…" He begged, his voice watery. A wave of pleasure rushed though his nanoprobes, stimulated by the pair of lips that touched his forehead, his whole body shuttered. Pure perfection. His heart beat slowed, his fears were no more, her voice had a the effect of his mother's when he was crying, but she, she abandoned him.

The voice mumbled, soothing the boy, "You will never be alone again as long you hear us," The voices flooded into his mind, at first overwhelming with the screaming, the cries for orders then slowly became like a symphony. Each drone having its proper place; no war, no biological agents, no suffering. Perfection. Millions of minds working as one, he felt one with the ship; his heartbeat synchronize with every drone on board. The ship was alive. There was no 'I' or 'you' anymore, he couldn't even tell if he was Wesley Crusher or Two of Six Secondary of adjunct of Decmatrix 189; there was only we. The Collective.

The Borg Collective, the Hive mind was a Utopia. Streams of memories though someone's eyes came though from civilizations that were filled with beauty. All part of the Collective there was so much knowledge that they gave him. No…not just knowledge, truth. His mind was at million places at once; battles fought light years away, surveying systems that were more beautiful Rosseau V, being part of drone on a mining world, planet 00768 subclass-666, walking across a catwalk while lava erupted from the river of magma.

Why would Captain Picard refuse this? Refuse her? All this knowledge would more than satisfy his curiosity. It was magnificent, so much technology, that he couldn't imagine, he wanted to study it all. Order. That's what the Collective offered. His mind was pulled up from the deep sea of thoughts. Wesley was sadden, he wanted to stay longer.

"Now do you understand? Humanity is a plague, a disease across the galaxy. Savage. Un-welding. We can rid you of this disease, Wesley. The savagery. The brutally. The fear. It holds you back. They held you back from your full potential. Picard. Riker. You were nothing more than a tool to them. They took advantage of your loneness and exploited you, Wesley. They mocked you. Scorned you." A blurry image came to his mind, they were laughing, Picard and the others, mocking his decision about staying on the Enterprise. He called these people his friends?"What we offer is freedom. True freedom."

Their view was wrong. All wrong. The Borg Collective was beautiful. So beautiful. They were the enemy. Fighting amongst themselves. Bullying the weak and misunderstood like him. Taking advantage of each other. Chaos. Endless chaos. The Borg had non of that. He didn't have to hide behind the uniform just to fit in. He could be accepted for who was, without the fear of being persecuted. He hadn't need to dumb things down for people to understand his theories or experiment. They would understand.

She cascaded a hand down his face, "Order. Perfection. True belonging." The Enterprise his family…no. He was being used by them. They never cared. The cold empties spread across his chest growing ever wider. It had all been a lie. He had nothing but pain. Pain. Endless pain. He wanted it gone. All of it. He didn't want to remember anything. Love was illusion, something out of a fairy tale and it lied and manipulated. It left him with nothing in return.

"Can you make me forget? The pain––everything?"

"Yes…if you give yourself freely to the Borg." What other option did he have? To go back to a 'family' that abandoned him. Lied to him. Manipulated his genius for their own use…what she offered was a new beginning. He could be free from his limited existence and be immortal. She could take him where pain couldn't reach him. He would never be alone again. He would have a family, that cared and natured him; the comfort of millions. Order. Perfection. A purpose in life. Decision. He didn't have make them for himself. He didn't have to fear the unknown, the future. The Borg Collective had it already decided it for him. No doubt. No Fear. No responsibilities to weigh him down or relying on untrustworthy sentients. Just strength.

A small part of him screamed, saying how wrong this was, to stop this, Picard would never abandoned him; not on purpose. She was lying to him, misleading him. He simply pushed that side away, locking it away in the darkest corner of his mind. Lies. All of it lies. If they truly cared, then they would have come by now.

This was an easy decision. Join the Collective, so he put into words, "I want to join the Collective," The Queen smiled and kissed his lips, pulling away.

"Where are you going?" Wesley said his voice wavering, fearing that she would leave him.

"Don't worry I'll be here. Just listen," The Borg surgeons resumed his assimilation, stepping toward the table. Wesley was smiling. He no longer felt the pain. He gladly accepted it. That mean't they were perfecting him. Perfection. He smiled.

He was lost. He was alone. Utterly alone. Afraid. So afraid.

If there was time that Picard needed to be alone. It was now and he found that, Ten Forward of all places, was the place be. The lights were dim around the bar, making the shadows dance across his face, enhancing his lines and sharp angles making him look ten years older, but non wiser.

Picard rubbed his nails. He yelled at Wesley and he was supposed to be helping the young man recover, not belittling him. If Wesley didn't hate him by now, he wouldn't be surprise. But somehow, he had to reach the scared trap young man underneath the drone's exterior. How? He was running out of options. The boy had built steel walls around him and his emotions; impenetrable. It took years to build them, with lies and twisted facts as the alloy, he had only mere hours to tear them down. He couldn't hand Wesley back over to the Borg. That mean't giving up. He couldn't let the Borg win. Not now or ever. He lost too many to the Borg already.

Gunian at the other end of the bar had been cleaning up a small area with a teal cloth, making the glass shine and sparkle. She peered up, seeing Captain Picard at the other end, deep in thought. She put away the washcloth underneath the counter and walked over,

"You look like you need a drink," Picard was pulled out his thoughts.

"I don't need a drink," Gunian gave him a look, wanting him to talk, so she would listen. "Wesley…" It barely audible that if Guinan wasn't paying attention she wouldn't have caught it,

"Hmm…what did you say? I didn't catch it," The Captain's eyes drifted to Gunian before settling at looking at the glowing bar.

"I said Wesley," Saying it a little louder.

"What about him?" Picard straightened his back. How could she not know? After all the crewmembers, who came to Ten Forward? This unnerved him, she was a listener.

He sighed, "Wesley has been assimilated into Nix of Borg. I never thought I'd see the day when Wesley would be in the Brig. Especially on my ship," He should have kept a better eye on him, not leaving him in Main Engineering with Data and LaForge; Nix respected him.

"I thought Nix was the personification of the night?" The Listener informed.

Picard's eyes widen, how could she think that? He felt his chest tighten, "It is like I'm looking at a distorted reflection of myself. He uses words to manipulate and he's a ruthless strategist. At every confrontation with him, I'm equality matched. When I see him. I see the cocky, arrogant, younger version of myself." Licking his lips, "He was right, I would do the same thing to escape if I was taken by the Borg again. Why do I see so much of my life in Wesley?"

Gunian answered giving a subtle smile, "You know that answer that." There was a brief couple of moments between the close friends. Picard turned his chair to be able to look out the large window to view the nebula. The Borg were still hunting them, despite how safe they thought they were in nebula, they weren't, they were never safe until they got back to the Federation. He almost hear the Hive Mind and he was sure Nix could partially hear them calling.

Unknowingly Picard said his thought out loud, "What could make Wesley turn evil?"

"There's evil is in everyone," Speaking with her years of wisdom. He turned back to the Listener, paying more attention, "Don't try to deny it Captain Ahab." Raising an eyebrow. Picard shifted his body away, uncomfortable about what she knew.

She pressed on but remained sensitive about it, "In that situation anyone would turn evil."

"But, in that situation I didn't turn evil, Guinan." Speaking calmly, trying not to break his emotion facade. He unconsciously started biting his lip.

Speaking the truth, "Yes…but you are Captain Jean-Luc Picard. Wesley is different, younger, less experience, and can't deal with the same stresses you do." Picard nodded in agreement.

"But Wesley isn't evil. He has benevolent soul. He's like his mother; non-judgmental and caring."

She cock her head a tad, "Wesley has a lot of inner evil, but chose not to show it and I think you had a lot to do with keeping his evil at bay. I'm surprised that Wes turned out the way he did, despite the fact he has so much evil in him. I thought he would be a snotty-know-it-all or even rebel child, but he didn't he kept that goofy teenage wide eye smiling navigator persona." Smiling a bit, remembering some good memories. However Picard had a look of confusion, not fully understanding what she was saying.

"Now I'm going to fix you a Gamma Serpentis," She brought out a dark red bottle with an oval hole in middle with a long neck, then a long thin green bottle and finally a violet and blue bottle that was square with a twisted neck.

Pouring a clear liquid from the square bottle into the glass,"Now the unique thing about this drink is depending on what ratio you use of the ingredients you get three different flavors. Now try this," The flavor of a robust lemon filled his taste bud. At first he thought it was a lemon liquor, but then it had notes of blackcurrant and even lighter taste of black pepper, then the flavor licorice. Before leaving a bitter aftertaste on his month. Picard sat the glass down, not wanting to touch it again. "It's good, but nothing special."

Gunian got the dark red glass and poured the liquid into the glass turning the clear liquid a warm orange, "Try it now," Picard brought the glass to his lips, hopefully he thought it would taste better than his first taste. However this time it tasted like a full-body Syrah red wine. The taste of lemon was gone and replaced by the pungent blackcurrant and wild black fruit and the licorice taste gone. Picard even noted the notes of toffee. After sitting the glass down, he waited for the bitter aftertaste, it never came.

Picard saw the Gunian had brought out another glass filled with the same clear liquid,

"You bring out the traits that you like from Wesley," She poured the a green liquid out of the long slider bottle, turning it a dark purple. She motion him to taste it.

Now the taste was herbal and floral, the licorice flavor was now a subtle undertone. The bitterness turned into sweetness as an after taste, "The Borg brought out traits that they wanted to see." She put away the other glasses and brought out a fresh glass; pouring the clear liquid into it, "However, when the ratio is just right…" Gunian brought both the slender green bottle and the dark red bottle and started to pour both liquids. At first there was no reaction then liquids started to spin, before mixing into one color. Aqua, then flashed into gold, before settling to a soft lavender, "You get the best of both worlds." Picard's face fell,

"Nothing good comes from being Borg," Being harsh with his words.

"You don't know that." She gave a quick pause, "No matter how hard you scrub to get rid of the Borg influence in Wesley. They have already have touched him and left their mark on Wes like what you did. You can't change the past."

"Why did Wes willingly join the Collective?"

"Ever since Jack's death he's never had a true family and the Enterprise is the closest he has to a family. Take that foundation away and he'll crumble. Wes would accept anything you offer him to make the pain stop. If that would be power or willfully joining the Collective." Pausing, "He thinks you abandoned him. He's hurt. I would go and apologize." Gunian left the Captain to his thoughts, but as she walked away, she said one last thing, "Find the light in the darkness and bring it out,"

Reviews make this author very happy. : )