Mirrors (Star Trek: TOS story by Elise Madrid)

Fanfiction
Title:	Mirrors
Author(s):	Elise Madrid
Date(s):	2002
Length:
Genre(s):	slash
Fandom(s):	Star Trek: TOS
Relationship(s):	Kirk/Spock
External Links:	online here
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Mirrors is a Kirk/Spock story by Elise Madrid.

It was published in the print zine First Time #54.

Summary

"Kirk and Spock are captured by a young man from Vulcanʼs hidden tribe."

Reactions and Reviews

"Mirrors" is a very traditional K/S story which is heavy on h/c—and I am a total sucker for h/c. J'lan and Skott were pretty well developed for original characters and added a lot to the story without taking away from the importance of Kirk and Spock. I'll be very interested to see who the actual author of this was.

Elise Madrid hasn’t been writing long, so I think it’s really amazing how good she is already. She always comes up with well written stories with interesting plots, and has a sure grasp of characterization and dialogue, and this story was no exception.

The story starts out with intriguing log entries from both Kirk and Spock just before they go on shore leave together on Vulcan—Kirk fears he is losing Spock’s friendship and doesn’t know why, and Spock is planning to confess something to Kirk. These entries are tantalizing, with just enough details to pique our curiosity and make us realize something is very wrong between Kirk and Spock. Once on Vulcan, Kirk confronts Spock, who is not yet ready to discuss the matter, and asks that Kirk wait for a while until after they visit some ancient ruins. The author very effectively conveys Kirk’s anger, frustration and sense of loss at the change in his relationship with Spock, and Spock’s sorrow and despair, and makes us anxious to know what, exactly, is going on! The POV of the story then shifts from Kirk to Spock, as we learn that Spock has fallen hopelessly in love with Kirk over the four years of the mission. This is what has been causing his distance and his anguish. Spock is afraid he is losing control of himself around Kirk, and has determined he must leave at the end of five year mission, since he is convinced Kirk has no interest in such a relationship with him. The visit to the ruins the next day does not go as expected, since Kirk and Spock are kidnapped by descendants of the one clan that does not follow Surak’s teachings, and has lived in isolation ever since. They plan to ransom Spock, and enslave Kirk. This was an exciting and interesting plot, with lots of detail about this clan, the two brothers who they interact with, and why they have been driven to such desperate measures as to kidnap Spock and Kirk. Spock is finally forced to confess how he feels to Kirk, and finds out Kirk reciprocates his feelings. A very hot love scene follows, in which Spock and Kirk become bondmates. Things really get interesting afterwards, but the plot is complex and I won’t go into details, other than to say Spock finds out he is rapidly going into pon farr, which complicates things considerably. (And leads to another really hot love scene!)

The secondary characters of the two brothers were well written, but I like that they don’t take over the story to the detriment of Kirk and Spock. I’ve read some K/S stories where the author got so caught up in the subplot involving secondary characters that Kirk and Spock almost seemed to be afterthoughts. That doesn’t happen in this story. The focus stays on Kirk and Spock as well; what happens to them and their reactions to the events in the story. This was a long story, but it held my attention and interest to the end.

I said in a previous review of a story by this author that she has the unique ability to pen a story around a concept I normally don't like and yet keep me reading it. This is one story where that certainly applies. This story contains not one, but two elements I do not normally enjoy in K/S stories—the first is although this is not a pre- reform Vulcan story, it certainly has the feel of one and the second is the fact that Kirk and Spock spend much of their time apart in it. I seriously doubt that if anyone else had written a story like this, I would have bothered to finish it, but because of this author's writing style, I just had to read it all the way through. There is something about her writing that just keeps me turning the pages of her stories until I reach the end, no matter what the subject matter is. And after reading K/S for 20+ years, let me assure you, that is NOT an easy thing to get me to do!