What Did You Do, Captain?

Im happy you didnt kill for me

"Captain." Mark whispered. He was sitting up against a wall with the Captain between his legs. They laid with their back against his chest, their head on his shoulder. One of his legs was tented to hold them up, the arm on that side wrapped around their waist so he could comfortably apply pressure to their wound.

Mark had tried to stitch them up but neither of them knew if it had worked. They didn't k or if Captain was still dying or not. Captain hadn't felt this much pain before. They had died in so many horrific ways but for some reason this felt the most real.

They had been sitting in silence for so long that the Captain had stopped fighting sleep and was starting to dose, but they turned their head, nuzzling his neck lightly. He swallowed hard, his breathing becoming heavier.

"I'm sorry, Captain. I am. I couldn't grant you the same grace you did me. This is my fault." He wiped his face, smearing a bloody hand print across it. The attempt was futile, he was crying too hard and too suddenly for the one wipe to stop the tears streaming down his exhausted face.

"I should have believed you. He was dangerous. You killed him to save me and... and I didn't do the same for you." Mark choked on his words, lightly sobbing.

The Captain twisted slightly to reach up and pet his face, hoping Mark still had that uncanny ability to understand them.

"I'm not sweet, I'm weak and stupid. I couldn't kill him even to save you." He grimaced and pulled away from their hand.

They shook their head and slid their hand to his chest, their body jerking in pain.

"Stop moving." Mark commanded through his teeth. He meant it. Things had gone so sideways. He was always so soft and goofy but now, he was different. He might as well have pulled the trigger, he was acting like he had.

"It made no difference. If I had pulled the trigger then he would be dead. I didn't pull the trigger and now... you are." He sniffed, closing his eyes,"I'm sorry, Captain."

They shook their head and slowly sat up, holding pressure against Marks hand on their wound so he would continue pressure as well. When the light headedness passed, they turned to face him.

His brown eyes were so full of hurt and worry, his lips a thin line as he tried to hold everything back.

The Captain cupped his cheek and kissed him very gently, parting lips to rest their head on his forehead. They sat like this for a long time until Captain heard Mark's voice as if from an intercom.

The Captain sat with Mark until the end, holding him like this and comforting him as they slowly bled out in his arms. When the Captain was asleep and unresponsive, anger overcame Mark and he stood up, marching through the entire ship, searching for the villain that killed his love. When he did, he realized that even as he took down his enemy, the Captain was dying no matter what.
And then
...
The Captain died alone.

A choice came up before the Captain's eyes:

Go into the light

They did.

They were sure they would have ended up back in the cryo pod but instead they ended up in a bed. Mark was at the foot of it put in on a shirt. They slowly sat up and he turned around.

"Oh, hi bunny." He greeted them, smiling widely,"Didn't mean to wake ya."

The Captain waved their hand, dismissing the apology. It was OK.

"Just means I get a kiss goodbye." He said with a shrug, getting up and opening his arms wide. When he reached them, he sat down and hugged them tightly, kissing their cheek. They slid their hand into his curls. His hair was longer than they had ever seen it. He was so handsome.

When they parted he leaned over and picked up glasses from the table, putting them on.

"You're so handsome, Beautiful." He cupped their cheek, rubbing a thumb along their cheek bone. The moment didn't last long enough. He kissed their forehead and stood to go.

"Remember to set your alarm if you plan on going back to sleep. Wouldn't always to have to initiate emergency wakey wakey protocol to get you out of bed." He joked.

Before anything else could be said or done, Mark left the room, closing the door behind him. They turned over to grab their phone. He was right. Whenever Mark had to wake them up he always ran in and jumped on the bed, bouncing them. They had even fallen off once.

They didn't want this today, plus, if they slept too late they couldn't go get their favorite coffee.

They put in their password, but instead of their phone opening, a wormhole did, and iflt sucked them into the spinning vortex once more.

Captain wished, not for the first time, that they could scream, but no sound came.