Chapter Text
Leonard entered the bridge but they all knew it wasn't him. It couldn't have been more obvious if he'd told them. His eyes were black, the whites and pupils all covered in a shiny dark ink. The blood running through his veins was also black, there was a trail of whatever the stuff that was flowing through him was leaking out of his nose in a small trickle.
"You're not Bones, are you?"
He had to force himself to calm down and it came easy to him. Being a Starfleet Captain meant he had a scary amount of experience with alien possession in his crew.
"No."
"What are you?"
The thing inside Bones, using him as their puppet, smiled, "I think you know already,"
He, or should he say they, moved strangely. He didn't know how long Bones had been possessed but whatever was in him hadn't gotten used to his body yet. Their movements were janky and mechanical.
"How long have you been in him?"
"Since Velaus," he pulled a phaser off his belt. "He was quite easy to convince, all I said was that I would help him, and he was mine,"
"But he didn't look like this when we saw him afterwards," Jim gestured toward the black ink that was everywhere inside him.
Leonard took a few steps closer, Jim moved to him to block.
"What are you doing here, then?" Jim asked.
"I need to get to that console,"
The crew stepped around it instinctively. It was basic training and instinct at this point.
"No chance,"
"That won't do," Leonard stepped closer and raised his phaser. "Let me at that console,"
"What for?"
"What do you think?"
"To spread, whatever you are," Jim saw the man, the body they were possessing and thought of Bones. "What would he think? The man whose body you're in,"
"Oh, he's on board," Leonard said. "That man maybe hanging by a thread but he has the strength to fight me if he wasn’t on board,"
He made eye contact with him, "Trust me, I can feel it, you're friend, if you class him as one, is a strong man,"
The crew looked at each other, they knew Bones was acting differently and that something must be up but hearing it from the thing that had the most access to his mind felt different.
"You didn't know?" His face feigned empathic shock. "Well, it's really not my place to say, but I will say this, your friend won't survive my absence,"
"Oh yeah, you sure?" Jim stepped so the phaser pressed into his chest.
"Well, with an attitude like that, you won't either," Their voice deepened and they met eyes.
Jim grabbed the end of the phaser and kicked him in the shin, letting him throw the phaser across the room. Bones began to hop and stared at him with murder in his black eyes. He lunged at Jim. He tried to move away but got pushed a few paces back, holding hands with his friend as he tried to push him away from the console.
“You. Won’t. Win.” They said through gritted teeth.
Bones pushed Jim a little harder and smiled when he toppled into Sulu. He got pushed off immediately. Bones was heading for the phaser but Spock kicked it across the bridge to Uhura. They all started kicking until Bones growled deeply in frustration, turning to Jim.
“You sure?” He said with a laugh.
The smile was wiped off his face as Bones ran toward him. He was going to force him to fight. Jim would just have to keep on the defensive until he could get through to him. He could call for security but he wanted to see if he could get Bones back before they took him away.
With a thwack, Bones hit him in the cheek. Then again and again. He tried to struggle and throw him off but he was so strong. Had Bones always been this strong or was it the symbiote?
"I'm." Hit.
"Getting." Hit.
"To that." Hit.
"Console." Hit.
Jim tried to take a breath in but his nostrils were clogged with blood. It was metallic in his mouth and sticky in his nose.
Would they kill him? Suffocate him on his own blood. He just wanted to get to Bones. Was that too much to ask?
The hitting stopped. Jim took a muffled few gasps of air and saw Spock's head peak over Bones' gasping face. Spock was administering a nerve pinch while his other hand melded with his mind to get the symbiote.
Both of their eyes closed, Bones' in a steady unconsciousness and Spock's in deep concentration. The air was thick and tense. No one dared speak so he could free McCoy. All they heard were the sounds of the bridge and Jim's panting gasps.
Bones' eyes darted open with a sharp intake of breath. Spock's hand fell from his face as the black drew up to the psi points and stuck to his fingers. He eventually got it all out and placed it in a science grade jar. It crawled up the walls, sticking like a spider's web.
Bones had flopped to the floor. Spock checked on him and assured them that he was close to being conscious again. They watched him closely as he shuffled and whined.
Spock checked again and informed that Bones was awake. They continued to look at him, crouched on his calves on the floor with his arms crossed over his chest as he rocked. His hair was ruffled but his veins were back to normal. They had yet to see his eyes.
Jim met eyes with Uhura, who didn't need to ask to get the medical and science teams to clear things up. He moved closer to Bones, he didn't move from his place on the floor.
"Don't touch me,"
The fake happiness the symbiote brought on was gone. The fake normality he'd mastered before then, and the anger that they'd all faced, had also gone. This was the real man, the one hanging by a thread that he feared had been cut when they 'saved' him. Just like the symbiote said.
"Leonard, that thing, it took over and erased whole societies," Uhura said. "The Anthropologists have made a trail of where it could've been, they think that thousands of societies have been erased, that could've been us, we could've led them to the Federation,"
Bones didn't say anything but kept rocking on the floor. He shifted slowly, not getting up but moving off his legs.
"They were going to help me,"
"With what?"
"Everything,"
Leonard got up, his black eyes were bloodshot and red. His hands shook, they were always shaking. Jim's heart broke for the last time. Bones looked worse than on the shuttle that they'd met. And he didn’t think he could get lower.
"What's everything?"
"You don't care, why should I tell you? We're not friends,"
He went to go to the turbolift but Spock stood in his way.
"You cannot run, Doctor, wait until the medical team arrives,"
"So you only care when Starfleet can get involved, when you can all be demoted for hijacking a starship," he spat.
"That's not true," Uhura said.
He rolled his eyes, "What a good defence,"
"If it was then we would've called a security team, which we didn't," Jim put a hand on his shoulder. "We care, Bones,"
His eyes went down to the hand on his shoulder, Jim felt that he should move it.
"Stop lying,"
"We're not!"
"I said stop!"
Bones turned to Jim and threw his hand off. He stepped towards him and lunged. The anger in his eyes was half hearted as he grabbed at him. Jim held his wrists as he did.
"I'm sorry I wasn't there, Bones," he met his eyes. "Our job is to be diplomats but we can't even talk to each other,"
He carried on struggling but he felt him getting weaker as he spoke.
"I know you’re not innocent but we shouldn't have let everything fall apart so quickly," Bones began to weaken and he pulled away. "I'm sorry, can we be friends again? All of us?"
Bones sighed and closed his eyes. He didn't respond for a while but then he nodded.
"I'd like that," he said as tears dripped down his cheeks.
He wavered as Uhura called for the medical team. Jim caught him as he began to sob into his golden shirt. It broke the shatters of is heart. The sobs were rich and full of pain. Every tear was full of almost a year of bottling things up. Bones went to pull away but Jim held him stronger, like he'd lose him for good if he let his arms relax an inch.
M'Benga and Christine stepped out of the turbolift and made their way to Bones. He could see they were struggling to keep their professional heads on as they pulled him off Jim and dried his eyes.
They waited for Bones to compose himself, giving him water and more tissues as they explained what was going to happen. He'd spend some time in one of sickbay's mental health rooms, then have a few appointments with the psychologist as they reached a starbase and made a plan of recovery.
Bones just sniffed as they told him, his face red and eyes puffy. They led him to the turbolift and the bridge crew gave a sigh of relief when the doors closed.
Jim thought things were finally, finally, going to get better.