Work Text:
“The end,” Doctor M’Benga said, closing The Kingdom of Elysian. He thought it would be difficult to do this, to read this story that reminded him of the dear moments he and his daughter shared. But with Rukiya gone alive and happy, it was time for M’Benga to do the same. Which meant sharing this part of himself to his crew—they were, after all, his family too.
Across from him, Una’s eyes were glistening with tears. Only she and Pike knew of the role Rukiya played in the missing five hours. The rest were under the impression that the nebula had used M’Benga’s knowledge of the fairytale.
There was silence for a moment; the crew processing what M’Benga had told them of their roles, the story, and the deviations. They were the crew of the Enterprise. Strange things happened to them all the time. Except a fairytale coming to life was new.
And then La’an, with a deadpan look on her face that made the sarcasm very clear, said, “I’m the princess? With the dog? Wonderful.” Her eyes narrowed. “I hate dogs.”
Ortegas sent her an incredulous look. “How can you hate dogs? They’re adorable! Did you even look at Runa?"
“They never stop yapping,” explained the head of security, a pained look on her face almost as if she was hearing it in her head. “It gets annoying.”
“Not all dogs,” Uhura pointed out.
“Cats are far superior,” La’an said, then turned to M’Benga. “Why didn’t you make me the Enchantress? That would’ve been fun.”
M’Benga held his hands up to signify that he had no control over who was cast as who.
“Because I make a far more interesting antagonist. I was the wicked witch in our high school play," Uhura said, brimming with pride. "I nailed it." Then to M’Benga, she asked, “So, when you say we were transformed, as in costumes and everything?”
M’Benga nodded, the image of the ship almost eaten by a forest flashed in his mind. “Vines in the hall, cauldron in the sickbay, dungeon in the transporter room.”
“I bet I looked good in that crown,” Uhura said to herself.
“You did,” M’Benga said. “You looked exactly like the character in the book. You all did.”
Chapel frowned, a little put out. “I still can’t believe I ended up being the quack healer. Talk about pseudoscience! Why couldn’t I be Pollux or Caster? At least Hemmer got to do magic!”
“Science,” Hemmer corrected her with a smile. “Not magic.”
It was both unfortunate and ironic that he was the only one of them who was unaffected by the Nebula, but could not remember it once it had left. He would have loved to see them all act contrary to their personalities in real life.
“I for one do not find any logic to the role assignments that we have been given," Spock stated. "For instance, it is interesting that the nebula made the Captain the cowardly traitorous chamberlain."
Everybody nodded and looked at the Pike expectantly.
He shrugged. “I don’t mind it so much, actually. He kept things interesting. Furthered the plot.” He caught Una's eye and she was sending him a dubious look which he promptly ignored.
“But coward is not a word we would describe you, Captain,” said Chapel.
“Nor traitorous,” added Hemmer.
“Funny, definitely,” said Erica.
“Yes, and loyal,” said Uhura.
Chris raised his hand to stop the barrage of compliments. “You can all stop buttering me up. I already gave you the best bottle tonight.” He turned to Uhura, folding his arms and putting on his best stern face. “Except for you, Cadet, you’re still not allowed to drink any of that.”
“I’m of legal age!”
“Not in my ship.”
Uhura sighed dramatically and then chuckled. It was tradition for the Captain to forbid the cadets to drink on the Enterprise; if the ensigns were telling the truth, they would be allowed to drink on their last night (and not just any drink, but Pike’s best liquor) and taste his famous grilled steaks.
Ortegas jumped off the couch and strode towards Una. “Well, I think I won today. I got to be the knight and I got the girl.” She stood next to Number One and raised her arm to put it around the first officer. Except Una was too tall that Erica ended up planting a hand on her shoulder.
Una sympathized and patted Erica’s hand before putting her own arm around the pilot instead.
“Clearly, the nebula thought Number One and I would make a good team. It’s the only reason it would stray from the storybook.”
Number One laughed. “You know, I have noticed that whenever it’s both of us at the helm, the starship always flies true.”
“Hey,” Chris pointed at Erica, halfheartedly glaring at her. “She’s my Number One. Get your own.”
They all laughed and then Hemmer turned to M’Benga. “It was lucky that the book you last read was this fairytale. Imagine if it had been something else, like Fundamentals of Quantum Stochastics.” He lit up at the thought while the majority of his colleagues groaned.
“Fortunately, The Kingdom of Elysian was my daughter’s favorite,” M’Benga explained. “Reading it reminds me of her.” And now everytime he would read it again, he can only imagine the places Rukiya had seen, the story she is writing for herself. There's a familiar ache in his heart; the loss was still fresh for the pain to be gone but there was contentment there too knowing his little girl was thriving.
Chapel got up and gave the doctor a hug. This was followed by Uhura.
“I’m sorry we never got to meet her, doctor,” said La’an.
M’Benga smiled wistfully. “I think you did in a way. Through the story. Maybe that was why the nebula did what it did.”
“Well, next time I would like to be a sorcerer,” said Chapel. “With a pet dragon.”
The conversation continued, centering around other characters they admired and disliked.
Later, when they were cleaning up after the crew had left, Number One noticed that the Captain was unusually quiet.
She handed him a plate to dry and said, “Thinking about Rukiya?”
Chris shook his head, contemplating a much different thought. “No. She’s happy now, going on adventures not that different from ours. But I can’t help but think about that fairytale.” He cast his eyes down almost shyly. “I lied,” he admitted. “I hate that I was Sir Rauch. He was so sleazy.”
Una triumphantly grinned. “I knew it! Who did you want to be?”
He looked up at her. “I wanted to be the Huntress.”
“I’m surprised you don’t want to be Sir Adya. He reminds me of you, you know.”
“Be a knight?” Chris scoffed, “That’s boring. The Huntress got to use a bow and arrow which is something I've always wanted to learn! And she’s so in tuned with nature. She was able to use ravens to send messages, trekked through the forest, rode horses.”
“Of course,” Una said. Chris and his horses. “So, if you could be any character from that book, you would be the hunter.”
“No. Not a hunter. The Huntress. I want to be her specifically.”
“What? No,” Una frowned, feeling strangely protective of her fairytale counterpart. “Cause that’s me. Rukiya clearly decided I would make the best Huntress.”
“You don’t even like horses!”
“That’s true, but I am very close to nature. May I remind you that I’m Illyrian. We collaborate with nature by modifying ourselves. Who better to play the lady of the forest than me?”
“I think,” Pike said slowly and looking like he had a novel argument to offer, “you’re more suited for Adya because you’re the best knight in the realm. You’re the number one soldier.”
Number One abandoned the dishes and turned to face him completely. “I think we should just go with whatever Rukiya chose for us. And since she chose me to be the Huntress, that makes me the Huntress.”
Chris shook his head. “Think of it this way. In Rukiya's version, Z’ymira and Adya were seeing each other, right?”
“And your point is?”
Chris motioned between the two of them. “It would make sense if I were Z’ymira and you were Adya. I’d send you ravens carrying poetry!”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah!”
“No.” Una rested her elbows on the counter, leaning close to Chris. “This is ridiculous. We’re fighting over who gets to be which fictional character. How about we just be Chris and Una of the Enterprise?”
Chris grinned, dimples appearing. “I like that.”
Una reached out to cup his cheek and then tugged at him to get closer. He got the message and closed the distance between their lips. Suddenly, it didn’t matter if he wasn’t living in the forest with a bow and arrow strapped to his back, riding a horse to fight side by side with a knight. Because he was Captain of the Enterprise, Una was his Number One, and he could not get a better crew than the one they had.
Yes, being Chris and Una was much better.
Brushing his lips against her ear, Chris said, “I think the dishes can wait.” He nodded to the direction of his bedroom and Una smirked.
“Agreed.”