1. Strange

He woke up in the cold, dark, stone cave with a start.

Firelight flickered along the walls, held in primitive torches.

Captain James T. Kirk was sprawled out on the floor of a cell, head throbbing, not quite remembering how or why he was there, and simply knew at the moment that he was quite in over his head. And likely in trouble.

As usual.

He gingerly got up, rough fingers gripping the deformities in the rough-hewn stone wall. He dusted off his golden uniform as best he could, and reached into his pocket for his communicator.

Wasn't there. Figures.

Neither was his phaser. That bothered him.

He squinted into the darkness, and realized that even though he was in a cell...the cell had three walls. He wasn't trapped at all.

Caution and previous experience taught him to not go running into what could be an invisible death wall of some kind. Instead, he bent down, picked up a small shard of stone, and tossed it ahead of him. It clattered and did nothing.

Hesitantly, he reached forward...and again, nothing happened.

Well...maybe the invisible death wall was up head. He carefully followed the firelight, his leather boots clacking against the stone, echoing off of the wall. The path widened a bit, and daylight filtered through the smoky air. He looked up, as the cave blended seamlessly into a tangle of vine and tree.

It smelled wonderful, and reminded him of what he'd seen of the Pacific Northwest, back home. Huge trees though...larger than anything on earth, with gray bark instead of brown, rose up into the sky, almost seemingly into infinity. The ground was pocketed with smaller trees and vines, all clamoring for what sunlight they could get. The plants were more of a blue-green color, and all smelled vaguely of cinnamon.

The Captain glanced behind him. No sign of anything. He was trying to remember how he got here! Was he on an away mission? A landing party? But why couldn't he remember anything about this planet? Even if he'd gotten kidnapped by some ticked-off natives, he should remember something about this place...Spock always insisted on everyone having a decent briefing about the geology and local flora and fauna before anyone went on any away mission.

At this point, his uneasiness had grown into a cold apprehension. He almost wished that someone would appear...anyone, even a hostile, just so he could get his bearings.

He turned his back to the forest, and looked at the mouth of the cave, that he had just walked out of.

And looked at another man walking out of it.

Another man with a golden starfleet uniform.

Command gold.

An eerily similar face.

Except with green eyes instead of blue.

"Hello!" the starfleet officer waved up at him. "Seen anyone else around here?"

Even his voice sounded...it couldn't be.

"No, just me," he managed to say, even though his heart was beating a mile a minute. The stranger was older but...only by a few years, at least. Maybe a tiny bit heavier, and it showed in his face. But there was no denying it.

The stranger had noticed it too, and had stopped at the mouth of the cave.

"Are you...sure?" he said in the same, awkward tone that had just come out of Kirk's mouth.

"Absolutely...sure."

He wasn't sure if he should run, or fight. Every fiber in his being told him to run and fight at the same time. But the rational side of him was curious. Too curious to let him run away.

Spock would be proud.

"This is...a little weird but...what's your name?"

"My name? Why don't you give me yours, first?" the stranger said suspiciously.

"I asked you."

"How 'bout we do it at the same time, then?"

The other one nodded.

Then they both said, at the same time...

"I'm Jim Kirk." 

* * *

If young Spock and old Spock can become friends, so can the two Jim Kirks! Thanks for reading this very short beginning, and hope you stick around for more chapters to come!

Disclaimer: All characters belong to Paramount, I consider this story exercise fair use under commentary and and education.


	2. New Worlds

Starfleet didn't have training for this.

They both stood there for a moment, one on the cusp of the cave they both came from, and one halfway in a bright blue bush that encircled an impossibly tall tree. He'd been standing in the middle of what almost looked like a path, but he'd been startled and took several blind steps back. He hoped that the bush, and its' shiny leaves, were not poisonous.

Startled from the fact that he was staring at himself.

"This is some kind of trick," the other Kirk said, a familiar lopsided smile on his face. Despite being a bit older, and his hair was longer and a combed a bit back, they looked quite like twins at this point.

"Yeah...it's gotta be. Or I'm dreaming."

"Or _I'm _dreaming," the other one jerked his thumb back towards himself.

"Or, somehow, we've been split in two?"

The other one rolled his eyes and laughed, as if remembering something amusing. But his eyes turned sad. "Either way...we're both suddenly in this place, without any communications or weapons. I don't think we have any choice but to accept that this...situation...is what it is, and we can figure out the why's and the how's later."

Exactly. Kirk wasn't sure why he was so impressed, but if this...fellow...was a bit older, he was certainly more wiser, and obviously a trained and tried leader.

"Yeah. Yeah...that makes sense. I mean, if we were going to attack each other, we would have done it already. And there were plenty of chances to kill either of us back there. Unless this is a really elaborate trick...we don't have a choice but to work together, for now."

The other Kirk frowned, slightly. "A bit more cynical than I'm used to, but all right. You hang around Spock too much, kid."

That got a laugh. He finally came forward, closer to the cave. An odd thought crossed his mind—what if this guy was an illusion? He looked real enough. Could be an android too.

"It seems like the worst tends to happen a lot," Kirk said darkly.

The other shrugged. "And the best tends to happen a lot, too. But there's nothing wrong with being careful. We ought to take a quick survey of our surroundings. Food, water. See if we can't catch a glimpse of the horizon."

"There has to be someone here, even if they're not here...physically, they're watching us, somehow."

The older one stepped a bit closer, and spoke in a low voice. "Exactly. Something as simple as making a weapon could offend our...unseen hosts, and they could kill us in retaliation."

"That's oddly specific."

"I've been through something similar," the older one backed off again with a smile, and began walking towards him, and past the mouth of the cave. The cave looked to be part of a large rocky outcropping—a small hill, really. A few boulders also dotted the landscape around them. Thick blue moss and young trees dotted the top of the outcropping, making it look like a turtle with an island on its back.

And then he realized the other guy was fairly fast on his feet, and was almost around the other side of the cave. Kirk quickly jogged to catch up with him, trying not to get any of the plants on him. He was already allergic to too many normal things, and didn't want to press his luck. It was harder than it seemed, especially where the brush grew thick in patches.

"Something similar?" Kirk called out as they rounded it from the other side. The guy was like a mountain goat. He hopped across the boulders like they were nothing.

"With Abraham Lincoln, believe it or not!" he yelled back with a stifled laugh.

Abraham Lincoln. The guy had to be pulling his leg.

"And Benjamin Franklin, no doubt."

"No, just Surak. It was actually a situation like this—the aliens who'd taken me and Spock were trying to learn something about good and evil. It actually made it worse when we _did _try to go to war with the other people that they'd summoned..." The older Kirk stopped, and the younger realized they were now on top of the rocky outcropping—and had a great view of the land. Still, giant trees as far as the eye could see. But it was hilly, and the trees were far enough apart and had enough shade that one could walk in pathways through the brush and vines. A ravine cut through the land a few miles ahead.

"There. Probably a stream or a river, even. We should try for that."

He was still trying to wrap his head around the fact that his...this guy, whoever he was, had met Abraham Lincoln. One of his heroes, though he'd really only discussed his love of history with Bones.

"I...uh...yeah, great idea." Kirk shook his head, as the other version of himself dashed across the rocks again like they were nothing. This had to be a dream. "So do you...ah, remember how you got here? Because I can't."

The other Kirk stopped, perched on top of a particuarly sharp boulder. He frowned, and seemed to be concentrating hard.

"No...no, I can't. You're right. I can't seem to pinpoint the moment I..."

"There was nothing in the cave, either. No technology, no words, runes, paintings, nothing. The torches seemed to be lit recently but...I mean, whoever brought us here...whatever brought us here, could easily be casting all of this as an illusion. This all might be in my head."

"Or in my head," the other Kirk grinned. "I had the exact same thoughts—obviously, but...there's nothing we can do right now. We have to accept this as reality and deal with the problems we're facing. We have to trust that eventually whoever—whatever...did this to us, will eventually appear."

"That's what I was worried about," he managed to scramble over the last couple of small boulders to reach his counterpart. "But I wish I knew what they were planning. If you're really here, then that means they're incredibly powerful. Obviously you're from my future, right?"

"I don't look that much older than you," he scoffed, but smiled good-naturedly. "I'm assuming you're on the USS Farragut right now?"

Something twisted in Kirk's stomach. "Uh. Nope. Captain of the Enterprise."

"Wait—Captain? You can't be but 26 or so..._Captain_?"

"Weren't you also the youngest Captain in Star-"

"Yeah, but not at 26—what did they do, throw you in the chair right out of the academy?"

"Sorta, yeah," Kirk rubbed the back of his neck, anxiety starting to well in his gut. Then it hit him.

"Wait a minute—you're from an alternate reality—or _I'm _from one."

The older Kirk studied him for a moment, frowning again. "Believe it or not kid, there seem to be a lot of us running around out there. I've had the displeasure of actually visiting a rather...violent reality, which I'm hoping that you're not from. You don't have anything called the Tantalus Device, do ya?"

"No? What's that?"

"Never mind," he blew out a sigh of relief. "Well, let's compare notes then, on the way to the ravine. We might be able to get some clues on why they chose you and me to be here."

It didn't take long to get to the ravine, though it was a couple miles away. Kirk found himself listening intently and rather liking (oh, what would Bones say about his ego now!) this version of himself. He seemed so much more confident. Made sense, if he went through the ranks normally...he was sure of himself and his command.

It was a little depressing, admittedly.

"If we follow the brook, we might be able to reach some kind of civilization. Hopefully they're advanced enough, and we can call our respective Enterprises. Wanna try it?"

"You don't suppose there's _two _Enterprises up there right now?" Kirk jerked a thumb up towards the sky, mottled by the blue-green leaves of the giant trees.

"Right now, I suppose anything could happen," he said, darkly. "Protocol required that we stay back at the cave, if we weren't in immediate danger. I think we have the advantage if we aren't there right now. From this rise, we can look back at that cave and see if anyone...or thing...approaches."

Kirk nodded. He agreed totally—the idea had come to him as well. There were boulders here as well, and the older one perched himself on top of it, sitting down. The younger did the same.

"Look, I might not have gotten the same experience as you, but...I wanna ask you something a little personal."

"Can't get much more personal than this."

"How do you deal with it?"

"With what?" he turned and looked at him, curious.

"With the responsibility. The pressure. Not knowing if your decision is right. Not knowing if your decision will kill everyone on board."

A long, low whistle. "If you could answer that, every Captain in Starfleet will take your eventual leadership class at the Academy."

"So you don't know?"

"I go with my gut and what I feel is right. And if I'm wrong, Bones and Spock are there to correct me. I guess you get used to the kinds of situations, and they happen over and over again, so you know what to do next time. But in space...anything can happen. Things that don't seem possible happen. Like this. And in that case, you gotta improvise. You do the best you can. That's all you can do."

"Then you've survived based on...what, luck?"

"I've survived because of them," he gave a familiar smirk. "All of them. We would have been dead a thousand times over if not for Scotty. We would have started about 75 wars if not for Spock. We would have lost so many people, body and mind, if not for Bones. And so much more for Uhura, Sulu, Checkov...it's an orchestra, and you learn how to play the music. You learn the song. Then you learn if it needs to be a dramatic one...a light one...or something like _O Fortuna_."

"That's...brilliant. I mean, if it's not too weird for yourself to compliment yourself-"

"Not at all, it's not everyday that one gets to do this," he chuckled.

Then the ground shook suddenly.

"Did you feel-"

The ground trembled violently, and they both jumped off the boulder, and crouched down behind it, for safety. Branches and debris was starting to fall from the high trees, which was incredibly dangerous from their lofty heights.

"Earthquake?" Kirk yelled over the din of the rumbling ground.

"It's getting stronger!" the older one shook his head.

Then it stopped.

A loud roar pierced the sky, and they saw a massive, dark shadow through the trees. The shadow began to _move_.

"Aw jeez, you think that it knows we're here?" Kirk whispered to his other self.

The ground rumbled as the massive shadowy figure lumbered towards them.

"Probably. We need to get to the cave...we're sitting ducks out here-"

"The ravine could offer some shelter-"

"It's too shallow, the size of that...whatever it is...it'd see us, easy. We gotta get back. In three...two...run!"

With a mad dash, both Kirks raced across the wooded pathways, as the unseen, giant shadow began chasing after them.

* * *

I'm not sure if _O Fortuna_ would exist in the Star Trek universe, but the music itself was invented in the 30s, so I'm assuming that it survived. XD Thanks to all who read and review!


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