Chapter Text
Shit hit the fan almost from the get-go.
The transporter had malfunctioned, and instead of beaming down into the forest and hiking in, Uhura had accidentally landed right in the middle of the temple, scaring the crap out of the natives. So, they’d had to resort to the backup plan almost immediately: Bones and Chekov stole the sacred scroll and high tailed it out of there as fast as they could, leading the Nibirans away from the volcano. Jim was disappointed; usually it took them at least five minutes for the original plan to go haywire. This had to be some kind of record.
But that wasn’t all. Due to some unforeseen seismic activity, the volcano’s eruption was proceeding much quicker than the team had predicted. Which meant that Spock was currently in the heart of an exploding volcano.
“Captain! The engines are overheating!” Sulu cried over the din of the shuttle’s alarms. “I can’t hold this position much longer!”
“Spock, I’m pulling you back up, there’s not enough time!” Jim yelled into his earpiece, reaching across the controls towards the winch that held Spock’s tether.
“I strongly object, Captain,” Spock stated calmly, his voice crackling over their faltering connection. Jesus Christ, how could he be calm at a time like this? Jim felt like his nerves were practically burning with a deadly combination of adrenaline, fear, and excitement.
“I am presently inputting the necessary passwords into the freeze catalyst. In forty-three seconds my task will be complete and I may be pulled safely back up to the shuttle. If I do not do so, this planet will die.”
“We don’t have forty-three seconds!” shouted Sulu, who was scrambling across the controls, frantically pulling levers.
“Jim, you must leave me behind. I do not-” Spock’s comm cut out abruptly, and Jim was thrown out of his seat as the shuttle gave a gut wrenching jerk.
“Spock!” Jim screamed. “Sulu! What happened?”
“His tether snapped, sir!” Sulu bellowed, and indeed, Jim glanced over at the winch, which now fell slack to the floor of the bucking craft. “We need to leave, immediately!”
Jim scrambled to his feet. “Lieutenant, we are not leaving Commander Spock in that volcano to die,” he yelled, racing into the gear room. He slammed his back into the automatic outfitter and felt a click as a heat proof suit snapped over his body. He grabbed a personal transport device from the wall and flipped open the screen on his suit’s forearm. On it, he could just barely make out a blue dot, signaling the catalyst’s (and Spock’s) location. He stood poised over the vent in the floor, legs spread apart, chin up, eyes blazing.
“Sulu!” Jim shouted. “As soon as I am clear of this vessel you are to vacate the premise immediately, do you understand?
Sulu turned around with a look of open mouthed horror. “Jim! Those transporters are still experimental! They barely work for one person! It won’t-”
“Lieutenant! This is an order!” Jim roared.
“Y-yes, sir!”
“It’ll work. I promise. I’ll rendez-vous with you in the transporter room,” Jim yelled as he punched the button on his display to open the vent below him.
Instantly, he was free falling, no tether to guide him, plummeting straight towards the blue dot on his screen. He couldn’t tell if Sulu was obeying his orders and fleeing. In fact, he couldn’t see anything through the thick cloud of volcanic ash. He didn't know if he really was falling towards the blue dot, or perhaps straight into the lava itself. He was blind to the world around him, and all he could do was stare at his display and trust it knew where it was taking him. He could feel his heart beating, thrumming, pulsing with a single rhythm, as it had every second of every day since he first saw him stand up in that crowded auditorium: Sp-ock. Sp-ock. Sp-ock.
Suddenly, the ash was gone, and Jim had a clear view of the caldera spread out below him. Directly underneath, he could make out a dim blue glow, reflected off the surface of a tiny rock precipice, marooned among the roiling sea of lava. He thought he saw a figure kneeling next to it, although he wasn’t sure. Everything was moving too fast and the lava was quickly approaching and sparks flew past his vision and he couldn’t see where he was going until the last second. In the nick of time, Jim punched a button on his suit and air shot out of the bottoms of his boots, slowing his descent just enough so that his subsequent crash wasn’t lethal, just painful.
Jim rolled to his knees and looked up to see Spock’s look of complete shock, his eyebrows so high on his forehead they disappeared past his hairline, his mouth hanging wide open. Despite the gravity of the situation, the life or death circumstances they found themselves in, Jim couldn’t help but burst out laughing at the comical expression on his boyfriend’s face.
“Hey, honey,” Jim wheezed, bent over from his painful impact and from laughter. “I thought… I thought I’d drop in, see what you’re up to.”
“Jim,” Spock admonished. He’d recovered somewhat, but his eyebrows were still nowhere to be seen. “This is possibly the worst course of action you could have taken, as now not only I will die, but you as well. The chances of our survival-”
“I know, I know, probably zero. But I brought you a present,” Jim said, unhooking the personal transport device from his back. “How much time do we have?”
“Seven seconds.”
“You can still activate the freeze catalyst remotely?”
Spock nodded.
“Alright, here goes nothin’!” Jim shouted, powering up the transporter. He locked eyes with Spock, who grabbed Jim’s arm and nodded again, fingers poised over his suit’s arm display. Still with gazes locked, they each punched their buttons at the exact same instant, the moment when all hell broke loose. The two disappeared in a golden flash as the world around them erupted into a storm of ice and fire.