An Adventure Into Darkness

Exploring with some Lunch

"Where did you learn to cook?" I ask while I shovel the chicken Khan cooked into my mouth.

"I learned from a friend of mine, a long time ago." He mumbles as he joins me at the table.

" What was their name?" I ask as I reach for another piece of chicken. He looks up at me with a glare. Apparently it was a touchy subject. We ate in silence, occasionally making eye contact. He lifted his head up so he could completely see me, "Remind me of your name again please." He says as he squints his eyes and tilts his head. I let out a aggravated sigh, 'how many times would I have to remind him?'

"River."

"River?"

"Yes, that's what I said."

"Hhhm."

"What?"

"Nothing. It is just an unusual name." I shoot him a glare as I pick up a piece of chicken, he lets out a chuckle as he reaches for more chicken also.

"I'm going to head to my room for a few minutes." I say as I stand up and start to exit the kitchen.

"Why?" Khan growls as he watches my every move.

"Because I'm sweaty from training, and I would like to change my clothes." I say as I continue walking down towards my room. He doesn't move and continues to eat his meal. I walk down the corridors of the ship towards my room when I decide to take a sharp left down one of the near halls.

'I mean if he isn't going to follow me, I might as well explore.' I think to myself. The hallway is dark and narrow, meant for one or two people to walk down at a time by the looks of it. I see at the end of the tunnel is one of the large sliding doors, similar to the kind on the Enterprise's bridge. Im face to face with the door. 'It wouldn't hurt to just...see whats inside, right?' He wont find out...' The door didn't have a lock, so I gently pushed on the it to activate the motion censer.

SWHOOSH

I walk into a dark room, the lights began to flicker on as I blindly walked around the room. The room was in the shape of a rectangle, made with sleek metal walls. One of the walls was made out of glass, the lights in the room were still dim, just dim enough to see the planets and stars outside the glass wall. I fixate on the beauty outside the window, nothing else in the room seemed to matter except what was beyond that thin wall of glass. As I walk towards the wall my hand brushes up against something soft, like a blanket, but I continued walking. I place my hand on the glass, inhaling sharply as I take in my surroundings. It was beautiful, so many planets to explore. 'You are in space, deep space River...So many planets to explore, so many things to do and see. -" I hold my breath as my mind goes blank. I could feel a presence in the room, I wasn't alone. 'Its all in your head, nobody else is on this ship but you, and Khan.' I take my hand off the glass with a sigh and smile. Traveling with Khan might not be so bad. I quickly turn around and start to walk towards the door. I feel something grab my side, giving me no time to react, I was thrown to the side. I landed on something soft,

"What the -" I stop, I see a shadowy figure against the light of the glass wall. It doesnt move, it just stands there and stares at me. I glance down slowly. 'What did I land on thats so soft?' My eyes widen as I realize, Im sitting on Khans bed. I slowly look up back towards the figure.

"...Khan is tha-" Before I could finish He was barley 2 inches away from my face, pinning my hands down. 'Great. You've done it now River!' Neither of us say anything, he stares at me, not blinking, not even breathing. His grip on my hands tighten as I realize that I was shaking out of fear. he leans in closer, our foreheads touching, I close my eyes and hold my breath. It felt like it would never end, even though it was a few seconds.

"Stay. Out. Of. My. Room." He growled, sending more shivers down my spine. And with that he left the room, walking out like nothing had ever happened.

I run down the halls back to my room, avoiding Khan at all costs. I plop down on my bed, letting the tears roll down my face as I silently sob. I laid there for hours with nothing but my thoughts. 'Apologize if ever want to see the light of day again.' I roll out of bed, not bothering to fix my messy hair and
puffy eyes. I start down the corridors to find Khan, I dont have to walk more than 10 feet to find him walking down towards his room.

"Khan?" He stops and turns around to face me, tilting his head. I walk towards him, about an arms length away.

"Have you been crying?" He asks as he squints his eyes and steps closer. I wave my hand in the air.

"Thats not important I came to apolo-" he cuts me off by placing a quick kiss on my cheek as he moves a strand of my hair out of my face.

"Get some rest, we begin training tomorrow." and with that, he was gone.