Till Only the Stars Remain

Fanfiction
Title:	Till Only the Stars Remain
Author(s):	Della Van Hise
Date(s):	1983
Length:
Genre(s):	slash
Fandom(s):	Star Trek: TOS
Relationship(s):	Kirk/Spock
External Links:
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Till Only the Stars Remain is a Kirk/Spock story by Della Van Hise.

It was published in the print zine T'hy'la #3 and in K/S Collected.

Summary

"The mission to Vulcan’s warrior past proceeded on schedule. Kirk and Spock were good at the roles assigned to them...as long as they remained just roles. But the planned-for rendezvous with the Enterprise never came. How long does it take to give up hope? And what must be sacrificed to live in a world which has become their only reality?"

Reactions and Reviews

1994

[This story] could easily have been a full-length novel as the plot concerns K and S stranded for 4 years on Vulcan in the past. It was to have been d brief mission, but the Enterprise never returned.

Spock is a warrior and Kirk is his slave- It's so romantic as Kirk looks out to the night sky and longs to be back on the Enterprise. Spock is more at home and at peace here because he has allowed the reality of his former life as first officer to slip away and the role of warrior to take over. He offers to give Kirk a "visionary meld" to allow him to believe for a night that he's back home. "'Please, Master/ he whispered, letting the fantasy breathe into reality, He was a foundling. Starship captain fallen from the skies, captured by this Vulcan of the dark lands."

Bittersweet as they both must iorget their own past and survive on Vulcan as they are. Kirk aches with loneliness and the need to return and Spock helps to take away the pain. 'Sad and haunting qualities as Spock helps Kirk say good-bye to his past reality. "It hurt him, too. To take away everything when he had little to offer in its place. To trade Vulcan love for the stars."

The whole collection was filled with images of death and rebirth, of mourning losses, yet understanding love. Truly a beautiful, romantic K/S zine, one that would be perfect for the budding K/Ser.

1996

A whole section of this (thick, dense, tiny-type) zine was master/slave stories. This one particularly moved me.

Kirk and Spock have been stranded on Vulcan in pre-reform times for four years; the Enterprise has never come back for them and it doesn't seem it ever will. They had gone down in warrior/slave disguises, and are now still playing those roles. (It was explained convincingly that a Preservers ship with humans had crashed here in pre-reform times, so Kirk isn't a freak.)

They had been bonded six months. The tone of this story, and of their feelings, is so unsettling. To both of them, their love seems not exactly real; or, they have to see beneath their roles for it. Kirk almost feels he must just be this beloved slave, must forget his past life — the only way to survive here without going nuts. Spock is distressed at finding himself becoming the possessive warrior. A fascinating, beautiful Spock, in his depths a warrior-lover. Subtle and deep, the warrior/slave games they find themselves playing. Really excellently done.

Spock can do a type of meld, to take them "home," to the ship. This is dangerous, though, to get caught up in this meld and begin to believe it, not be able to accept their reality. A sexy sex scene, yum, sex and meld. Just one more time, making love on their ship. Then, Spock does the memory erasure thing to both their minds.

A year later, Kirk can't remember what he can't remember.... What a scene: the desert night, a moving light in the sky, sounds from the strange old black box. But neither he nor Spock can remember.... The suspense is killing me, when odd words flash in Kirk's mind, beam-down point, etc., and he looks at his gorgeous long-haired master and almost sees a short-haired man standing stiffly in strange clothes. Oh god, the moving light moves on, and they are still here, not remembering....

My stomach hurts.

2000

Kirk looks up the Vulcan sky, looking for the Enterprise. Unfortunately, he's in pre-Reform Vulcan and the Enterprise is 3 years late. Sent back with Spock to study life among the warriors, they were to be picked up after a standard year with all the information they had gathered. He and Spock had been bonded for 6 months when approached for the mission, so now he is trapped in Vulcan's past as a human slave to the warrior, Spock.Eachday itgets harderand harderfor him to deal with the situation and he realizes that if something isn't done soon, he's going to start coming apart.

Spock has the idea of taking him back to the Enterprise in a meld, but both realize that Spock is really offering him a chance to say good-bye to the life they had. Afterwards, Spock removes their memories of that life so that both can survive in their new one.

A year later, Kirk is again watching the sky. He is content as Spock's slave, the only life he has ever known. Suddenly, he sees a strange star. It moves unlike any of the rest. He calls Spock to show him and as they watch Spock thinks he hears a strange sound coming from a little box in their tent. They don't know what it is, they just know they've always had it. Spock ignores the sound, somehow aware that it can take his beloved from him, that somehow ifs a danger to the life they have, a life that Spock has grown to love. Pulling Jim into his arms, he tells him to ignore the star, that "it will be gone..." And I shall not permit the light in the sky to take you away... ever again."

Every time I read this story, it gives me the chills. It's not that hard for me to see Spock doing this. His desire to keep Kirk only for himself shows up in a lot of fan fiction so I think ifs something a lot of people see. I think many see him as needing Kirk more than Kirk needs him, though I'm not so sure about that. However you see them, I don't think you can read this story without being affected by it.