A special thank you to a wonderful beta.
A warm hug to all the readers and reviewers.
Chapter 6 – Friends Now Foes
The sunrise was beautiful that morning. And Sarek felt as if finally, finally he had broken free of the chains that had bound his soul for thirty years. He naively wanted to believe it could be attributed to the positive strides made in the conversation with his youngest son the previous evening. But his scientific mind understood it was simply the manifestation of the weather patterns. The voice of his beloved rang out in his ears. Time will heal all wounds. It had become a mantra Amanda repeated over and over in their final days together. Despite his rational side speaking, his emotional self was fully ready to continue on the road of mending of the bridge severed between father and son.
And in order to continue that road, he would once again have to walk the familiar and painful steps of the past.
There were wrongs Sarek desperately needed to set right. Not just for his son, but the wife he had lost, and ultimately, for himself. He finished his coffee, rinsing the now-empty cup, and returning it to the cleaned sink. Unable to resist, the corners of the man's mouth turned up in an infrequent smile as he saw- truly saw for the first time in months, how Spock had cared for him when he was incapable of doing so on his own. Son had taken care of father, now it was father's turn to take care of son.
He would return the favor. He would be the father he should have been years before. He climbed the stairs and moved down the hall to the room across from his own. Spock's old room. Sarek stopped at the door and gently pushed it open to step inside. His son was still asleep in the queen-sized bed. Gazing upon his sleeping child Sarek remembered when he had first bought that bed. It was entirely too large for the little body that occupied it, and every morning he would have to hunt for Spock under the pile of pillows and blankets.
And now, nearing thirty, Spock was still Sarek's baby boy. He hoped they would get beyond the bitterness between them. He wanted to see his son grow to be a better husband and father.
Silently he turned and left, closing the door gently behind him. It would not do to wake Spock. He could tell his son was tired and he did not desire for him to be awake now. There was a place Sarek had to go. Alone.
He left his home shortly after dawn. This morning Sarek took the wheel instead of being chauffeured by a driver. The sprawling landscapes of the surrounding estates whirled past him as he drove- masking family secrets and hidden shames. The route was familiar, though it had not been traveled in many years. It was no different when he pulled up in front of the home of an old friend. One who seemed to have been waiting for his arrival.
Sarek walked up the stone entry way and keyed in a code he knew by heart- access granted. Strange, after all these years he still knew the numbers, and the fact that Nero had never changed them.
The massive mahogany doors opened upon his approach and he was met with a disarming smile and cold gaze.
"Welcome old friend." Nero said, spreading his arms and stepping aside, allowing Sarek entrance to his home.
He bit back a bitter laugh at the evil irony of it all. Yes, at one time they had been the best of friends. At present Nero made a mockery of the word by even using it in his presence. They were united by similar heritages, Sarek birthed and bred in traditional Sicilian ways and Nero trained in the god like ways of Greek men. Both were the sons of international business men who raised their boys to appreciate, indulge, and pillage the finer things in life- women included. They craved power. Control was the drug of choice for Nero and had been for Sarek. And while they indulged in their own brand of control and power- especially with women- that fascination had morphed into something far darker and dangerous for Nero.
They were seventeen when Sarek was forced to admit that something was wrong.
Mandana was fourteen the day Sarek and Nero met her outside the small café her parents owned. The girl's face was still round with youth, cheeks that blushed in a natural response to Nero's heated gaze. Plump, ruby red lips that formed that most beautiful smile, Sarek had seen. Her brown hair cascaded down her back and when she turned the softness in her hazel eyes was reserved only for Nero. That day Sarek had seen a touch of his friend's humanity. Nero doted on the girl, looking for all the world, like a man in love. He had left a rather large tip and returned the next day with flowers. They ate there for three meals a day for the next five days. Nero had looked- dare Sarek say it- happy then. And Mandana had taken the center of his universe. When the girl was off of work, Sarek would catch glimpses of the two of them walking along the town square- Nero's tall frame towering over the small girl, but not overwhelming her, holding her hand gently and caressing her face softly- tenderly- as if she were a precious treasure.
The following week the villain reigned when he took Mandana's most precious possession. Yes, the girl had offered unsure of what being with Nero entailed. Her tears had been too much for Sarek to handle. When Nero was done with her, he had left the girl alone in their room, storming out angrily and Sarek had been left to pick up the pieces. He had been the one to return her home to her parents, begrudgingly answering any and all questions they had. He had pled with the girl's father not to contact the authorities and instead summoned Nero's father to deal with the situation. The family was paid well in order to maintain their silence- but Nero always returned.
He had preyed on the immature love budding in the girl's heart, ultimately stealing Mandana from her parents when she reached sixteen.
Now that he was older, Sarek realized- it had been Nero's own twisted sense of love. And to him, that meant ultimate possession and ownership.
Somehow, Sarek had the misguided belief, that finally having Mandana as part of his life would soothe Nero. But instead, the man continued to spiral out of control.
It was not enough to have her. He had to break her.
Sarek watched as Nero paraded other women in their home- sometimes forcing his wife to watch. Sometimes, she would participate. And for Sarek's part- he said nothing. When Mandana would cry he found no words to comfort her- and instead turned a blind eye to her suffering. He stood silently by as the young woman who was now a wife developed vices of her own. She was unable to carry a child to term. Losing four children before doctor's had declared her barren. The life of wealth she lived now afforded the opportunity to taste and dabble with substances designed to create emotional numbness. She slid into her husband's darkness. His own vices engulfing her, drowning her- pulling her into a place she would only be free from in death.
And that is how she chose to free herself.
For the second time in his life, Sarek bore witness to his friend's humanity. Nero had grieved openly after Mandana's death, blaming himself for her suicide. Again, Sarek had no words of comfort for him- he was correct. Nero himself had killed Mandana. He had set out and accomplished his goal of breaking her. He had succeeded too well.
Soon, he found himself growing tired of his friend and the demons that latched on to his soul. He wanted to run- to break free from the man he was becoming with Nero's presence. He settled down with a beauty named Isabella during college. Young passion overtook them both and Sybok was born soon after the beginning of their relationship. It was his greatest achievement. The innocence of the tiny infant filled him anew and for the first time in his life he fully understood what it meant to have unconditional love. But that love did not extend to Isabella. Lust faded as they grew older. And though he loved Sybok dearly, those demons he'd fought to excise wound their way back into his soul. Isabella could not stomach Nero's influence on Sarek and one day, while he was out with one of his women, she took Sybok and left their home. While she needed him to remain in their child's life, any future dealings between them would be one of mutual respect in the pursuit of being parents to their child.
Losing Isabella had not created a gaping hole in Sarek's heart. They were not soul mates. His son was still part of his life. And he had moved on with ease, continuing his life of wealth and indulgence. He continued down his path of destruction, until Amanda. She had fought for his soul, and through her own sacrifice- she had won it. But the cost…
His eldest son inherited Isabella's ways. Sybok declined Nero's offerings at the age of fourteen and had actually spit in the man's face as the ultimate sign of disrespect. Sarek had been secretly pleased by his son's refusal, but now- the thought made new pride surge within Sarek. But he had paid for his sins with his youngest heir.
"Coffee?" Nero motioned towards the door leading to his study. "Or are you here to perform a disembowelment over the wrongs I've committed against your precious family?"
The words dripped with false sincerity from Nero's lips. But Sarek knew him too well to be lured in.
Yes- that was jealousy he noted in Nero's tone. In a strange way, God had been merciful, sparing Mandana the pain of bringing a child in this world with her husband. Ultimately it contributed to her death along with the realization of who and what her husband really was.
"We have much to discuss my former friend." Sarek spoke bluntly- his tone emotionless and cold as he watched the man's hands began to shake as he poured the coffee.
Time had not been kind to Nero- he could tell the man was ill and working to mask just how sick he was. He felt no pity.
"Cream…sugar…" Nero played hospitable host..
"I'll take it black."
The look on Nero's face alarmed Sarek. The man paused from preparing the hot liquid, closed his eyes, and took in the aroma of the drinks before him as a slow, half-crazed smile spread across his face. "So, that's where your son gets his penchant for African beauty."
Sarek's anger increased ten-fold. Nero was speaking again. "She really is quite lovely. I never had the pleasure. He didn't like to share her. I did taste her once, by way of Christine's lips." The man let out an indecipherable groan licking his lips. "Delicious."
Spock's story and the helplessness on his son's face was a memory that would forever be burned in his mind.
"You had no right Nero." He hissed, moving quickly. Before Nero could break from the spot where he stood Sarek was up, grasping the collar of the man's robe. Soul-less black eyes met his furiously burning brown ones. "He was my son. I never wanted this for him!"
"The mighty Sarek, son of Skon, thinks he's above me?" Nero wrestled from Sarek's grasp pushing him back and pounded his chest. "I descended from the gods, not the tomato vines." He moved towards the cabinet housing something harder, stronger than the caffeine in the mug.
"You're a fractured deviant, who should have died years ago and left this world a worse place!" Sarek yelled.
"Well, kill me. If you feel justice will be served, by my death- do it." It was a challenge. Nero knew what he wanted, but Sarek wouldn't give him the pleasure. Still, he continued to taunt. "You won't though. I know this. You are weak Sarek. You always have been. Just. Like. Your. Son."
Sarek threw the mug on the desk, watching as the ceramic broke against the wall directly beside Nero. The hot liquid burned his face. And he watched with a twist of satisfaction as the other man clawed in pain. A piece of him was sated by the damage.
"My son will rise above the seeds you've planted in his life. My son. Don't you wish you could say that?"
Nero gripped his burning flesh as Sarek walked out the door and his life.
But before leaving he turned, one more time.
"You are dying Nero. And I hope that death is every bit as painful as what you've brought to others. Some overcome their circumstance. Others use it as a crutch. Yours is killing you."
And for the last time, he walked out- shedding the demons of the past at the door.