Disclaimer: I don't own Star Trek. Reviews are welcome. I don't own any characters other than Fenix Flarestone. Enjoy and stay ethical y'all.

Chapter 18: The Crystal

Previously…

His eyebrows knit together. My neural pathways have become much accustomed to their sensory input... I will miss them. If Fenix was never exiled to Omicron Theta, she would not have met Lore and reactivated him. Even if we arrived and reactivated him, the probability of him being not be as pleasant as he is now would be higher. He might have even been a possible danger to us. Fenix fixed his emotion program. Thus, he is able to tolerate humans and love her. Without Fenix, I am certain I would not have been able to bond with my brother. I am forever grateful for her to, in a way, become part of our family and my close friend. These are experiences that have enriched my life so much so, I will forever cherish them in my database. He tilted his head when he had a realization. I have noticed I am drawn to her. A magnetic pull of some sort. I do not know how else to describe it... It is a feeling within my chest cavity. Maybe a diagnostic test might be needed. Yes, I shall do that before I see Fenix tomorrow morning. Data put his hand over his chest, making sure everything is right as rain.

Fenix finished her last day of studying with Data as she walked back to her room. Her mind preoccupied by tomorrow's practical exams. She reached the room and got some bubble tea while she waited for Lore. She sat on the bed, staring into nothing while her mind ran a million miles per hour. Placing her bubble tea on the night-stand, she sprawled out on the bed and stared at the ceiling. she didn't even notice Lore entering the room. "Fenix?" He asked. "Oh, Lore. Hey..." She greeted. "What's wrong? You seem distracted." He asked as he sat on the bed next to her. "Tomorrow's the day I do my practical exams and I'm worried. Data reassured me I'll pass with flying colours, and I know he's not the type to lie to me just to calm me down. It's just..." Lore grasped her hand for support, "...It's been intense this week. Sooo much information for my brain to soak up. I know logically it's useless to worry but emotions are never logical, are they?" She ranted and rubbed her eye with one hand. "I understand your conflict very well, but Data's right. It wouldn't make sense for you not to pass. But I could say anything to ease your worries but none of it will actually do anything." He stated. Then he ordered, "Sit up, and face away from me." She did as she was told with a confused frown. He reached for her hair brush and began brushing her hair. She eyes closed instantly upon feeling a tingling sensation. "Lore, that feels really nice." she softly thanked him. "I know you enjoyed hair play, and how relaxed you became when I did this back home when I cut your hair. Just relax." he ordered. After brushing through her hair, he used his long fingers instead of the brush. Fenix noted, "If I keep worrying about the exams, I'll end up psyching myself out." His long fingers grazed her ear and softly reassured, "Exactly. So don't worry about it." He massaged her scalp, and played with her hair for about an hour. She turned around to face Lore and hugged him as he embraced her back, enjoying holding her in his arms. "Lore. I never thought I'd ever fall in love, hell, or even be attracted to anyone. I thought there was something really wrong with me. Turns out, I just didn't meet the right person. It feels like... I was born to love you, and maybe that's why I was put in the future." She spoke softly, her head resting in the crook of his neck. He closed his eyes feeling a tug in his chest and poured his heart out, "Then my life has meaning, I was constructed for you, Fenix." He massaged her head as he held her in embrace. She slowly pulled back and kissed him tenderly. He leaned back into the bed, with her on top of him at first, he then rolled her to be on top of her. Lore kept kissing Fenix, intent on kissing away her problems. He wanted her to stop thinking about tomorrow's exams and of Data. The last thing she needed was to obsess over something she's got a good grasp on, it will only make it more detrimental to her in the long run. She felt his hardened manhood pressing up against her thigh and pulled away from his kiss to blurted, "I'm sorry, Lore. I'm too chicken shit to go further. I promise to do more, eventually. I just can't... yet." Lore smiled at her innocence and stated, "I don't have hormones or procreational needs that interfere with my desires. I feel pleasure, I want you to feel pleasure with me, the intimacy we share is sacred. I want to make love to you because it's the highest form of physical connection between people and I bet it would feel incredible. You would be my first, only and last person I want to share that with... Don't worry about pleasuring me, I get plenty from what we've been doing. I sometimes get carried away because I know I could do so... much... more." and resumed kissing her senseless. Her mind was spinning with pleasure from feeling connected to Lore.

"This is captain Picard. Commander Data, Lore and Fenix to the bridge immediately!" Lore growled in annoyance, stopped kissing Fenix and both jumped off the bed and headed straight for the bridge. Data joined them on their way there. All of them wondering what's going on. When they reached the bridge, the three of them saw the crystalline entity. Fenix and Lore simultaneously both blurted, "Oh shit..." She squeezed Lore's hand, urging him not to communicate with it, no matter what. "Code Red, raise shields! Lore! Fenix! If you know ANYTHING more about the crystal, now would be the most opportune moment!" Picard ordered. Fenix looked intently at the crystal, Lore noticed how she stared at it as if in a trance. Never taking her eyes off the crystal, she spoke, "Captain, we need to lower the shields. It wants to scan me. Just me." "What!? Preposterous! We'll be completely defenceless!" He raised his concern. "I can hear it... It won't harm us. I give you my word. But you need to lower the shields now or it will tear this ship apart." Fenix monotonously answered. Lore's eyes widened, surprised as he stared at her with confusion. Picard was torn as what to do, but he had no other choice at this point, "Lower the shields." Everyone looked at him in disbelief but did as they were told without question. As soon as the shields lowered, a beam of light shone through the glass and onto Fenix. She remained still, trance-like. Once the crystal entity had finished, it drifted away disappearing into darkness once again.

The bridge became eerie silent. Data and Lore stared at Fenix as they tried to assess what had happened and why she was able to understand the crystal entity. Captain Picard asked in a quiet voice, "Fenix... how?" She held onto Lore's hand tightly, knowing her answer wouldn't suffice but she answered regardless, "I don't know how I could understand it. It was like it was talking directly into my mind. And not in any words, it was more of a feeling. I swear, I don't know anything about the crystal, this was just weird." She began to fidget, "Captain, may I return to my quarters with Lore since I have nothing else to contribute. This whole thing totally wigged me out." Picard sighed and complied, "Yes... I suppose you may." Fenix thanked the captain and swiftly walked out of the bridge with Lore. Counsellor Troi added, "She was telling the truth. She was just as shocked as we were if not more. I… I felt the crystal connecting to her… it was… it felt very strange." Data spoke up, "Dr. Crusher confirmed that she is human with unexplainable strength, speed and hyper-accelerated regeneration. What if our technologies are not able to comprehend what she might really be? If she is something else, I believe she does not know it herself either." Picard understood what Data was implying, "I see what you mean, Mr. Data. But she is as far as we know, human. And we shall treat her as such. The last thing she needs is having more experiments done on her. The injustice she endured sickens me knowing that the federation was responsible for such vile acts." Data reassured, "I will not stand for her to be experimented on either, it is a challenge to be different from everyone else as it is. And difference sometimes both intrigues and scares people, simultaneously at times. I understand being different very well." The crew members all had guilty expressions knowing that was how they felt towards their commander even if they tried to treat him as any person and as their commander.

Lore and Fenix made it back to their room. She was feeling unease and confusion as she spoke, "Lore... what am I?" He looked at her with kindness in his eyes as he answered, "You're Fenix… as far as we know, you're human." Fenix sighed knowing that this question was going to be unanswered as she mumbled, "...as far as we know, that is…" Lore sighed knowing there wasn't much he could do but listen and let her continue, "My entire life, I've been labelled as 'human'. Last time I checked my abilities don't exactly fit under the category of 'human'. That's why I've been experimented on, right? That's..."Fenix trailed off remembering the horrors resurfacing again, she tried to bury them but realized it wasn't going anywhere this time. Lore felt her heart accelerating alarmingly and kept a close eye on her vitals as he listened,"That's when I learned how immortal I was. They kept blowing my head up and taking parts off of me. They even..." Her hands shook,

"They even tried to get me to mate with different species." Lore's eyes widened in shock followed by pure anger from knowing the horrific things she endured and flexed his hands. Fenix added, "It was never successful because I killed everyone that tried to rape me no matter how strong of the straps and clamps where..." she rubbed her wrists subconsciously remembering how she tore through and broke so many of them, at times she had broken her own hands and feet to free herself. Her voice was soft as a mouse, "It was agony every time..." Her head drooped and clenched her eyes shut remembering the horrors and the anger that festered within. She wiped her eyes, "When they realized they can't physically tried to get me to mate with another, they took my eggs and tried to experiment with those." She shrugged, "I do have an endless supply after all… But they couldn't utilize them. Said something like they were dormant but something was obstructing them from getting tampered..." Lore tried his best to calm his own anger and realized he needs to focus on comforting her instead of festering. She sighed tiredly,"They found nothing... 'human'. Conclusion was always 'human'. What human can keep regenerating entire limbs!? Or communicate with the-the crystalline entity!?" Tears refilled her eyes as she expressed her frustration. Lore saw anguish fill her purple eyes and tried to answer, "I'm able to communicate with the crystal, but not as clearly as you do. And I know you're not an android. You can rule that out. Besides, it shouldn't matter what you are." It doesn't matter to me what you are. You're perfect. What matters to me is to seek and kill Admiral Pressman and everyone that was involved with those sick experimentations. She let her tears fall down her cheeks, feeling frustrated then wiped them away quickly. Lore pulled her into an embrace and she calmed herself before speaking, "This whole episode just... it's a reminder how much I don't fit in anywhere. I don't fit in with humanoids... but I'm not perfect as an android... I hate feeling like this... Feeling so lost especially when people look at me like I'm a freak. I guess I kind of am... it just adds more questions about myself… along with who my biological parents were… I wonder if they'd be able to tell me something if they were alive… because… I feel like such an outcast no matter what time I'm in. It's all so… damn exhausting." Lore held her tight, reassuring her she has his full support. "Fenix, I've told you this before and I'll say it again, it doesn't matter to me what you are. We'll cross that bridge when we get there. And honestly, we might never cross that bridge and I'm okay with that. You just have to be, too… For now, you're an extraordinary human. And... I don't really fit in anywhere either. I have your back and I know Data does, too. Why do you want to be labelled? You hate labels." She pulled back and wiped her tears away as she spoke, "You're right, doesn't matter what I am. I've always been an outcast outsmarting everyone in my own weird way. You got the whole, badass-drummer-mandroid thing going on and you're totally bangin'. I should rock this, superhuman-metalhead-guitarist thing... Might as well own it, right?" She gave Lore a smile. Lore smirked, "Damn right. Own who you are. To hell with everyone else." She released him feeling better, "Well, that took my mind off of tomorrow's exams... Now I think I want to go to 10-forward and get shit-faced." Lore chuckled and confirmed, "You've always had done as you pleased since I met you, but you're usually more headstrong. You need to become yourself, Fenix… The Fenix that would challenge me without fear and have disregard for people that don't matter to you." She answered, "Yup, you're right. I'm a bit of a firecracker at times I suppose. Any ways, I really think anyone who's immortal should be allowed to drink at any age, I've been drinking since I was nine." They laughed and left for 10-forward.

"Oh, hell yeah! I didn't know it was karaoke night! That's dope!" Fenix's feeling better as the night went on. Guinan pretended she had no idea what Lore and Fenix were up to. She knew Fenix was immortal and knew how living a long time can affect someone. For the time being, Guinan wanted Fenix to enjoy being a kid since she had a long road ahead. I'm glad at least she has someone with her to join her never-ending journey. If that meant letting Lore buy a copious amount of alcohol for her to drink her problems away to have fun, so be it. She'll learn to cope better as the time flows for her to experience life over time. A few hours later, the pair started winding down with Fenix ordering a bowl of bowl of rice and green tea. Lore stated, "I see you got the 'drunk munch'. Whenever you get drunk, you crave that combo." Fenix answered, "Well, whenever dad- I was adopted- let me drink, I'd have rice and tea because my mom's Japanese and she always had rice on hand. My dad's not Japanese, he's Irish... heavy-duty mechanic. He played guitar, I got along with him but I couldn't get along with mom... strict Asian mom, ya know? I was never good enough. 'Why can't you do anything right? Why do you act like a boy? Why must you take after your father? Stop cussing like a mechanic! If you keep this up, I'll disown you! You are a disgrace to the family'." She mocked. "Bitch..." She cussed under her breath. Oh, Fenix... my troubled, tragic Fenix. If I could take away all your pain, I would do it in a heartbeat. Lore thought back to his counselling session with Deanna before speaking, "I think your mother had high expectations from you since she knew you were intelligent. She didn't know how to raise a feisty genius. If you weren't extraordinary, she would've had an easier time, but you're not average. You're so much more. Whatever her reasoning, you can't control her actions, just your own." She looked at Lore while resting her head on her arms and thought about what he had just said. "You're right. The only thing I can do is deal with it. I can't control other people's actions but I could control how I take things. I can't keep pushing this on the back burner. Do you know why I like drinking? Or why I created Celestial Snow...? I like drugs. I enjoy drugs because they made me feel good even for like five minutes. Whether it was 'I'm a freak of nature' or 'I'm the family disappointment'… or… "my bio-parents rejected me..." at least drugs and alcohol would momentarily give me temporary solace. But that's exactly what it is... it's temporary and those emotions come back to haunt you ten-fold needing more and more every time. I need to grow the fuck up and deal with shit like an adult."

Lore tucked a stray hair away from her face behind her delicate ear as he listened. "Lore, watching you grow and move on with your issues has been a such an important life lesson for me... I need to do the same. I still like alcohol, I still love drugs. I'll just need to learn to cope with my turmoil." Lore thought to himself as he listened. Mental disorders and disabilities have become a thing in the past… but she's from the past… Maybe she's been going through life completely undiagnosed? How she's able to function in chaos… the organized disaster… Either way, she's found a way to work in her own way. That's what counts at the end of the day. She doesn't need to know if there's something working differently up there, she knows something's different with her and she understand how to live with it. That's all that matters. Even the refined celestial snow Dr. Crusher wouldn't fix her, not that there's anything to be fixed... Her body would only purify it… wouldn't do anything to her in the long run. Fenix thought for a moment, "I have to admit, in the long run, the medicated state of mind is kinda overrated any ways, you're not missing out on anything. Thanks for helping me realize that." she sincerely thanked as she touched his hand. Lore smiled and deviously replied, "You know, if you wanted to feel good, I could always make you... feel... good." as he quirked an eyebrow suggestively. Before she could retort, he pulled her in for a 'feel good' kiss. She finished the kiss and retorted, "Yeah, that's exactly what I need, get addicted to sex. 'Drugs? No thanks, I like the natural high I get from having an orgasm' Right..." She rolled her eyes as she joked. Then Lore remarked cheekily, "Can't be a sex addict when you're still a virgin." and winked at her, it was her turn for their cheeky banter, "Lore... Smooth as peanut butter." and both laughed.