Kirk saw Spock stumble and nearly wince. He grabbed the Vulcan and kept him on his feet. Spock steadied himself and then--

"She knows," Spock said. "She forced me away." He reached again for her temple, but Sarek's hand suddenly grabbed his wrist and Spock could not break the grip.

"Then you will honor her choice, Spock." Spock tried to wrench away, but Sarek held fast. "I will not lose my son. Respect her right to fight this alone!"

Ten seconds.

"Heed me!" Spock called. He ran to Vi'hai and Arik as he shouted. "Tell them not to believe what it is telling them! They deserve to be born!"

He touched Vi'hai and then Arik as he said the last, just two fingers to their temples. A mind touch, not a meld. Sarek rushed to Jdehn as Soluk took care of Mekhai.

Kirk looked desperately around. McCoy was helpless at Vi'hai's side and Soluk continued to hold down Mekhai as the younger male writhed in his grip. Jdehn's fingers dug into the ground at Kirk's feet, tearing at the soil, and Arik clawed his throat as Saavik had, as his eyes strained in his face fighting his inner demons. No one can do anything more to help them. Saavik continued to gasp for air and Kirk couldn't fathom how she was fighting anything at all when she could not even breathe.

Spock was back at her side. Kirk imagined he held his breath with her. They couldn't do anything but wait.

Like the destroyed Srre who stared as his family's garden was on the brink of being a cemetery. "He said, the weapon is not to blame for its wielder."

Thirteen seconds.

Vi'hai's eyes widened and then faded in light. Kirk watched the lids drift closed, and suddenly did not want to look down to where Saavik lay.

Fourteen seconds.

A strangled noise rasped into the sounds of his hammering heart, but in the same moment, he knew it came from Spock whose eyes are locked down on Saavik. Kirk's eyes dropped and watched as Saavik's one hand was still at her throat.

Frozen.

Her head flung back and her chest finally expanded in a loud, harsh breath. The sound was echoed by Arik.

Fifteen seconds.

Jdehn collapsed into a pile on the ground, panting for breath as much as Arik. Dust caked her face and hair, but she raised her head and got to all fours.

Spock helped Saavik to her feet, but she kept her eyes away. "You succeeded." He said it to her at first, but he opened it to all of them immediately. "You no longer believed what the disease told you."

Mekhai spoke, perhaps for all of them. "That's not it." He rose to his feet and turned into a dark silhouette against the setting sun. "Maybe I shouldn't've been born." He stared at Srre, then turned away. His enemy wasn't kneeling there. "But that don' mean I gotta let someone kill me with it."

"Jim."

Kirk ran to McCoy and knelt next to Vi'hai whose eyes held just enough light for a few last moments. He held out a hand.

"Arik."

And Arik – Arik calmly knelt, took the hand, and listened as Vi'hai barely breathed his request. "I'll do it, Vi'hai. I'll take you to Seleya."

Spock moved forward and Sarek came with him. Arik had no training as a katra bearer, but he stayed almost serene, never closing his eyes, but always looking into Vi'hai's.

Vi'hai passed with a breath and Arik caught the hand falling from his temple. He folded it on the dead male's chest. Mekhai, Saavik, and Jdehn drew close by them as if summoned.

It was over.