To Save the World, Part 2: Teaser
Author's Note: OK, so, here we are! The last episode! It's FINALLY HERE! And of course, I do something that makes you all want to throw something at me, I am sure, and YES, I know, another cliffhanger, but you only have 4 more chapters after this one, so, I figure I better get them in while I can. Also, I am actually so far ahead on writing all of this that I'm working on the last chapter today and should have it done tomorrow. So that, combined with the, um... very intense nature of this chapter's end, means I will be posting the whole last episode this week. By Sunday, all parts of the episode will be out. It's my way of saying thank you to everyone for their continued support and also because you may come for me with pitchforks. Or sword and spear. Or phasers. Or bat'leths. I'm not sure about some of you. :D
What man can escape the riddle of his life?
In his very existence, he cannot truly understand the end of his days.
To Plato, I whispered such honeyed words so that he could begin to truly contemplate the vastness of eternity. Thus, I began those borne of my city, my first true worshippers, on their great journey to Understand.
Yet, there is Wisdom in not knowing. To know the date of one's death does not necessarily enrich the life yet still unlived. For the Fire that burns in my temple does not know the measure of the kindling that waits for its spark. The olive tree does not know how much more fruit it may still may still bear. And the olive does not know when it shall be plucked with gentle hands to feed its caregiver.
Yet, I tell you do not despair, my children. Such unknowns can be blessings. One must only be willing to accept that the riddle exists in order to understand it.
Just as the tree does not know when it shall be pulled by its roots from the soil…
It also does not know when it will be planted in richer sod, to nurture and make the tree stronger than it has ever been.
Man cannot escape the riddle of his life.
For he only truly sees the shadows on the cave wall. He does not see beyond.
Attend and walk with me, my child.
Let me show you what lies beyond the cave.
Shadows danced from the flames licking at what was left of the Golden Gate visitor center.
The moment his eyes opened, James Kirk knew he was in a bad way. He could barely breathe.
The air was choked with flames and smoke, making his eyes water and his lungs burn.
He could hear Circe… somewhere… she was angry. To be fair, he really hoped that he had really messed up her day when he'd managed to shoot her.
"What do you mean, they disabled the bomb?"
"Exactly what I'm telling you." The other voice replied. "You didn't stop him in time, so we're going to have to do this the hard way." He recognized her…
Groaning, Jim tried to sit up, but realized he couldn't. He'd been through bad scraps, but… This was the worst in a while. He knew that because the pain… didn't seem so bad. But, his legs refused to move. His back was wet and slick.
There would be no getting up.
The concrete barrier he'd been thrown into had crumbled around him, but he hardly noticed. His vision was beginning to dim at the corners. The world was growing smaller.
Everything was in a fog.
Circe was still talking, even if she sounded underwater. There was a warm, wet trickle running down his ear and neck. He had a feeling he knew why he couldn't make out anything she said. But, her motives most assuredly would not have changed.
Wincing, Jim somehow willed his hand to his chirping communicator at his belt. With numb fingers, he pulled it free and brought it to his mouth, flicking it open after a second. He tried to answer, but inhaling only made him choke on the rust in his throat.
He could hear the voice of his best friend somewhere beyond.
"Jim! " Bones sounded like he was floating down the river, not coming through a subspace band. "Dammit, answer me!"
Jim tried to say his name, but instead blurbled something wholly unpleasant. His tongue didn't seem to want to work. He took another breath, steadying his nerves and trying to will them to work. "Bones… how's the crew?" He realized that he sounded out of breath, in pain, but not… dying. Good. He doesn't need this…
"We're all fine, but the area where you were lit up like a Christmas Tree." It occurred to him, as Bones kept speaking, that he could understand him… but the words seemed to be passing in one burst eardrum and out the other. "Jaylah's disarmed the bomb and traced the detonator signal."
"To Cale…" He breathed, blinking slowly as he found himself watching a piece of ash floating in the night air above him before it came to rest on his chest. "Then…" It was getting harder to think. He wanted to close his eyes. "You need to find Diana." He coughed again, dropping his head back against the concrete.
"Jim, what's wrong?" Bones was sounding further and further away…
"Oh, damn, he's still alive." Circe… she was looming over him. When had she gotten so close to him? When had she stopped talking to him?
"I don't think he's going to be for long…" The other voice muttered, crouching over him.
"Tell Diana…" Jim breathed, his heart starting to pound a bit more as Circe's hand began to glow. "You need to tell her…"
"Whatever it is, tell her yourself, we just found her - "
"Tell her… Tell her she's here…" Jim was losing words, losing… vision.
And then he locked in on the sight of another person standing over him. Veronica Cale.
They were working together.
He wasn't sure if he'd been able to voice that to Bones or not.
He didn't even know that as Diana took her first breath, buried in meters of rubble, it was as the Goddess of Truth.
He didn't know that because as she took her first breath…
James Tiberius Kirk… took his last.