A/N: So I finally did something I've wanted to do for ages, and I wrote a GF Pacific Rim AU fic! The GF characters just fit SO perfectly with the setting and story of Pacific Rim. This was a heck of a lot of fun to write, I had a great time with it. For now this is a one shot, but I think I have future fics in mind for this AU, and if they get written, I'll upload them here and make this into an anthology of one-shots for the AU (so the timeline will likely jump around a lot). So basically it's not committed or definite, but there will likely be more stories here soon.
RECOLLECTIONS
The thing about the Drift, is that it changes something about the way your mind works. Dreams become deeper, more vivid than they were before. Drifting involves tunnelling your conscious mind through deeper, more complex regions of your brain than it ever had access to before, and once you gain access to it, it stays a part of you in one way or another, even when not Drifting. Sometimes Dipper Pines' dreams were just normal, the sort of strange and surreal things that the brain usually pumped out during hours of slumber, albeit far more vivid and lifelike than before. He noticed that his dreams tended to contain a lot more sparkles and sentient stuffed animals these days, but when you linked your own mind with that of your sister on a regular basis, it seemed only natural that part of her mind would rub off on your own.
Sometimes, however, his dreams would take a different route. When one enters the Drift, you're met by a rush of memories, both from yourself and from your co-pilot. To successfully Drift, you simply need to let the memories flow and not hang onto any of them, but unfortunately that wasn't always what happened. Sometimes a particularly powerful memory would stick with the pilot and they would go down the rabbit hole, becoming absorbed by the memory and causing the Drift to fail. It could take days to get a rabbit holed pilot to become conscious again, but thankfully it was rare amongst experienced pilots. Dipper and Mabel had both experienced it only once, during their first ever attempt at Drifting, and they later woke up in tears and afraid, feeling afresh the devastation that had wracked their lives many years earlier.
Since then, neither of them had ever fallen into a memory again. But even doing it once could affect your dreams. Ever since it had happened, Dipper (and his sister too, though she rarely spoke of it) would sometimes dream of his memories, fresh and vivid, almost like experiencing it over again. It was, of course, like being in the Drift, only alone instead of joining minds with Mabel. And going down those deep mental roads alone made it all the scarier, because at times, like with the Drift, he would fall down the rabbit hole and relive his most horrifying and frightening memories. And more often than not when that happened, he would dream of the day that he and Mabel had lived through once again on their first trial of Drifting. Tonight was one of those awful nights, and Dipper's mind was swept up by the currents of his subconscious into the memories of the worst day of his and Mabel's life.
August 10th, 2013. A day of summer break just like any other. Dipper awoke in a good mood, falling into a pleasant stream of idle chatter with Mabel as she knitted in bed. She was excitedly talking about their upcoming fourteenth birthday, just three weeks away today. This then led into talk of high school, which they would start a few days later. They both talked in length about their plans for high school, about the opportunities they would take and the friendships they hoped to make. Mabel was all about getting into musical theatre and joining as many clubs as she could, and she was determined to find a boyfriend or girlfriend of some sort, and just as determined to matchmake Dipper and find him his "perfect mate" as she worded it. At that Dipper couldn't help but fondly roll his eyes, appreciating that his sister would keep his love life in mind but maybe also slightly hoping that it wouldn't involve too many matchmaking shenanigans. As the morning progressed, the two of them made their way downstairs, not bothering to change out of their pyjamas because they had nothing planned but a lazy day of relaxation and cartoons.
And so a short while later they found themselves sprawled out on the couch with bowls of colourful cereal (which Mabel had bombarded with sugar, a habit Dipper had long ago made peace with rather than try to get her to see why that might not be the best idea for your health. He didn't exactly have the best eating habits himself, so he hardly had room to talk as it was), catching up on the last few episodes of episodes of Legend of Korra that they had yet to view, in preparation for the second season about to start next month.
A short while later, their parents entered the room and announced a trip to San Francisco for their dad to meet with company executives about his latest work on computer technology. This was met by twin groans from their children, at which their mother simply chuckled and told them that they could use the fresh air, and that they had been sitting on their "lazy butts" all week. Mabel insisted that the entire point of summer break was to make your butt as lazy possible, but her protests were met with no avail as their parents ordered them to go get changed.
Begrudgingly, the two of them obeyed and went and readied themselves for the day ahead of them. Mabel put on her sweater, a light blue one with a smiling robot on the front of it, and Dipper put on his olive green trucker hat with the star on it, the same hat that he'd had for years at this point.
After making the short drive to San Fran, the twins had to admit that it wasn't so bad an idea really. Their father left the three of them to attend his meeting, saying he would reunite with them at the restaurant they always went to when they came to the city. The twins glanced at each other excitedly, because that place had the best cheesecake. It didn't take long at all for them to start enjoying themselves, as they and their mother wandered wherever they pleased across the city, taking in the views, grabbing some doughnuts, visiting the Golden Gate Bridge, and going on a casual shopping spree, though what little money the two of them had wasn't enough to get some of the more intriguing things they saw. At one point Mabel dragged Dipper into a clothes store, taking a look at the dresses to see if there was anything she liked for the school prom, regardless of how far off that event was. She asked Dipper to compare and contrast particular dresses and tell her which one he thought was better. He exasperatedly answered that he didn't care, to which she pouted and began poking him in the ribs. He did it back, and before long they were engaged in a full on tickle fight, laughing and squealing, and eventually it got to the point of Mabel having Dipper in a headlock and giving him a furious noogying. They knocked over several display stands in the course of their play fight, making quite the mess, and before long they found themselves being kicked out by the furious shop owner, who told them in no uncertain terms that they were banned for life. The twins felt a little guilty over the mess they had caused, but at the same time they couldn't help but giggle conspiratorially as their mother reunited with them and asked what the heck had happened. Linda Pines put her hands on her hips and gave her best attempt at a stern look, but it quickly broke into giggles of her own, unable to keep her amusement at her little troublemakers' antics at bay.
It was then that an explosive noise tore through the air, causing them to cover their ears. It sounded as if literal tons of water had been distended and then crashed down into the sea once again. They, along with many other people, turned to look at each other, then rushed along through the streets to get a view of the sea. As they went, another sound rent the air, louder and more frightening than anything they had ever heard before. It was like the roar of an animal, only completely unearthly, and surely there was nothing big enough to roar like that.
As the sea finally came into view, however, they saw it. Eyes widening and jaws dropping, they took in the colossal form of a monster the size of a building standing in the bay. The thing was dark green with vivid yellow stripes running across its body. It had four arms, two of them small for its size, but the other two gigantic and bulky. Its body was thick with muscle, and its head was crowned with a crest in the shape of an axe, a similar shaped sail running along its back. Dipper would have described the thing as majestic had it not been so mortally terrifying.
It became very quickly apparent that the streets were rapidly turning into a riot of screaming people fleeing for their lives as the beast began to approach the city from afar, letting loose another ungodly howl as it did, giving the three of them a very clear view of its rows of sharp teeth. Whatever unholy thing this nightmare creature was, its intentions were definitely not friendly.
The twins quaked fearfully, barely hearing their mother screaming at them to run, until finally she snapped them out of their trance and the three of them began to run with the rest of the crowd. They ran towards their father's meeting, hoping he would still be there and not lost in the chaos trying to find them. Sirens wailed out across the city, helicopters circling through the sky covering the whole thing live. Every so often they would get a view of the monster again, nearer every time.
Before long it was tearing the Golden Gate apart with its enormous claws, as a squadron of fighter planes fired missiles into the thing's hide to absolutely no effect. They seemed nothing more than an irritant to the monster, who swatted them out of the sky as if they were insects. They were getting nearer to their dad's building, but as they were approaching it, the monster made landfall. Horror-struck, Dipper and Mabel clung to each other as they watched the thing tear a building apart as if it were nothing. Their mother told them to wait as she went and searched inside the building for their father, and they obeyed, staying just barely out of the way of the fleeing crowd. They couldn't always see it, but they could always hear it, as the hellish creature tore apart building after building, and gigantic plumes of black dust flew upwards into the sky from the collapsed structures. Planes and tanks continued to attack, but it was as futile as ever. It was coming towards them, they knew it, but all they could do was hold onto each other and pray that everything would be alright. Thankfully, their mother returned mere minutes later with their father in tow, who had been stuck inside due to the chaos of the building's evacuation, and he hugged his kids tightly, so thankful that they were okay.
The four of them re-joined the crowds as the encroaching monster's footsteps grew ever nearer, as the clouds of debris threatened to overtake them. Hearing the monster's roar from a distance was one thing, but hearing it up close was something else. It was deafening, louder than anything imaginable, and it shook every bone in their bodies, shattered the glass in nearby buildings. They ran and ran and ran until their feet wanted to drop off, trying and failing to get out of the monster's path, as the streets leading away from it were crammed full of too many people. Its footsteps were so near now that the shockwaves made it difficult to stand, almost knocking them over every time. Then, from the cloud of debris behind them, the creature emerged, its face looming out of the dust and letting loose another roar to the horrified screams of thousands. Dipper and Mabel's blood ran cold, and their parents urged them to run faster. Suddenly, a great rush of people separated the twins from their parents, and they were pushed and shoved further apart from them. The two of them screamed and yelled for their parents, feeling more frightened and small than they ever had. Linda and Martin tried desperately to reach them, shouting for them at the top of their lungs but the gap was growing ever further apart, the twins unable to force their way back through the crowd, only being dragged further away.
And then, the creature's foot came crashing down. One second ago, their parents had been there, calling for them, trying with all their might to reach their children. Now, they were gone, crushed underfoot by the gigantic monster. The two teenagers could only scream in abject horror as they realised what had just happened. They cried out for their mother and father, but they could never answer. They could never see either of them again, could never spend another second in either of their company, could never be told how much they were loved by them again, could never be hugged by them ever again. Because they were gone. Dead.
Before they even had time to process this, the creature lifted its foot again and was about to take a step forward, one which would have ended their lives along with those of their parents. And it was then that an enormous barrage of missiles struck the creature all at once. It roared irritably, then changed its path, turning to its right and crashing through yet more buildings at it pursued its attackers. What was left of the crowd behind them ran past them, but neither Dipper not Mabel made any attempt to move. All they could do was stand there, clinging to each other, gasping for breath. Mabel shrieked for her mother and father as loud as she could, begging them to come back, to just please come back, to not leave them. But all that lay before them was a smouldering crater left by the monster's foot. Mabel kept on begging, Dipper only able to remain silent, horrified, his dust coated body shaking like it never had before.
Finally, it was all Mabel could do to break down into tears, shoving her face into her brother's chest as the sobs racked her. Dipper soon burst into tears himself, crying into his sister's hair. They were gone. Gone forever.
The memory shifted to the events of a few hours later. The twins stood atop a hill outside the city along with thousands of others, looking out over the carnage. They had made their way through the chaotic city, escaping it covered in cuts and bruises, but alive. Now all they saw was a levelled city, nothing but debris and fire for miles around. In the distance, they could see the monster leaving the wasteland it had created behind, storming onwards to tear some other place to pieces, still followed by the futile attacks of planes and tanks. The twins stood perfectly still, hand in hand, no longer even shaking. They felt nothing but empty and blank now, lost and alone in a sea of strangers. The only thing either of them could feel was the hand of their twin in their own hand, and that was the only feeling that mattered anymore. All they had was each other now, and as the two of them stared out at the destruction with thousand yard stares and filled with a void of hopelessness, it was that one feeling, that one assurance that the other was alive, that kept a small spark of life inside them. In time, that spark would grow to be a furnace, and they both knew that they would never, ever allow anything to happen to their twin.
The memory shifted again, to when they had been moved to an emergency refugee shelter. They had cleaned themselves up and fed themselves with the military rations they were given, feeling more blank than ever. They were never apart for more than a few minutes for the remainder of that day. A TV was setup in the heart of shelter, and the twins gathered with everyone else to watch the news. They saw footage of the dread beast taken from a helicopter, relived afresh the nightmare they had endured as they watched the monster tear apart San Francisco.
The newscaster spoke in a voice wracked with anxiety despite his best attempts to hide it. The creature had been codenamed Trespasser by the military, and they were still trying to determine just what the hell it was and where it had come from. The footage eventually went on to show the creature ravaging two more cities, including their hometown Piedmont, before finally the military had taken drastic measures and dropped a hydrogen bomb on the creature, finally killing it. Footage of the corpse revealed the creature to be half destroyed by the blast, blue blood pouring out of it.
That night the twins ended up crying themselves to sleep in each other's arms as the reality of the situation came crashing down on them once again. Their parents were gone, and their home had been destroyed. Their lives had been brutally and irrevocably changed, and nothing would ever be the same again.
They spent the next few days simply recovering, watching the news reports over and over again. It was found out that the blood of the creature was toxic and already causing yet more deaths due to water pollution. A few days after that, something was discovered in a trench in the Pacific Ocean. A rift in space and time, a portal from our world to another. That explained where the monster came from, at least. There was nothing that could be done, nothing that could close the portal between worlds. Humankind could only hope that the monster had been a freak accident, that no more terrifying things would emerge from what was soon named the Breach.
Dipper and Mabel were shipped off to some town in southern California to live with their maternal aunt Carol. Carol had had a fraught relationship with Linda for many years, and she disliked her kids just as much. They learned to tolerate each other, but theirs was never a friendly relationship. During the years they spent with her, Dipper and Mabel had only each other. They eventually got back to being themselves, albeit with new scars, both physical and mental. Their fourteenth birthday came and went. They started High School, they made a few friends, and they got on with life. Months passed, and the world went on. Though they were changed forever by their experience, they still got by, and slowly began to patch up each other's hearts. They still had nightmares sometimes, and Mabel still kept the dusty and ragged sweater she had worn that day on her person as if she felt it was her last connection to their old life, and Dipper had fairly frequent anxiety attacks, but little by little, bit by bit, they were healing.
Then another Kaiju (the name given to the gigantic beasts, a Japanese word meaning "strange creature") attacked, destroying Manila. And a third hit Cabo San Lucas. The twins watched both of these attacks live, their hands held together in an iron-like grip as they did. Humankind was rapidly losing hope. By the time the fourth Kaiju attacked, the world knew that this wasn't going to stop.
And so over the next several months, talks surfaced about some kind of new technology currently being developed to fight the Kaiju. The news said that the project was being developed by Fiddleford H. McGucket and, bizarrely, one of their own great uncles who they had never met, Stanford Pines. They had always heard tell that he was a genius of some sort. The world could only wait with bated breath as the project went on in secret.
When another Kaiju appeared from the Breach and made landfall in Vancouver, the twins, as per usual, watched the attack as it happened live on TV. Every city destroyed felt like another chip being worn away from their hope, and they could only hold on to one another to stave off the despair as they watched.
Then, something incredible happened. Something metallic and enormous was being carried over the city by helicopters. The Kaiju, codenamed Karloff, looked into the sky and roared at the metal thing as big as itself. The helicopters dropped the thing, and for the first time, Dipper and Mabel got a clear look at it. It couldn't have been… surely not. And yet, what now stood before the snarling monster was undoubtedly a giant robot. It looked like a prototype, unfinished and unrefined, yet for the first time, hope, real hope flooded the hearts of the twins and countless billions of others.
The Kaiju roared its challenge, and in response the mech slammed its fists together. The two titans charged towards one another, and within moments a battle of epic proportions took place. Karloff ripped, tore and bit at the machine, tearing pieces off of it in a flurry of sparks and flames. Yet the machine gave as it good as it got, delivering fearsome punches and body slams, and before long the monster was wounded, bleeding.
Mabel cheered it on, yelling for it to kick the Kaiju's butt, and Dipper merely watched on in stunned silence. A full half hour passed by, and the machine, whilst torn and ragged, still stood. The Kaiju was on its last legs, having difficulty even standing. It let out a feeble, wispy roar, and made one final charge. The mech dodged the attack and grabbed Karloff by the head, forcing it onto the ground. Screeching in protest, Karloff was now too weak to fight back, and the machine grabbed its neck with both hands, twisted it, and with a loud snap the Kaiju's neck broke.
Almost immediately the living room was full of cheering, Dipper and Mabel whooping and dancing around the room, feeling for the first time in over a year and half full of furious determination and hope. Even Aunt Carol was cheering, and she rarely if ever showed any form of enthusiasm. Celebrations took place around the world. The people of earth cherished the feeling that this first true victory against the Kaiju brought to them, what it meant for them all. As the night progressed further, Dipper and Mabel watched, transfixed, as the newscaster interviewed several members of the newly formed Pan Pacific Defence Corps (referred to as the PPDC for short), including their great uncle Stanford, who had been piloting the mech alongside his brother, another great uncle of theirs named Stanley, who was interviewed alongside his brother. The machine was called a Jaeger, derived from a German word meaning hunter, this prototype specifically being named Brawler Yukon.
It was explained that the Jaeger was piloted mentally by connecting not one, but two pilots' minds to the machine by linking the minds together to create a singular mental output. The neural load had apparently proved too much for a single person to handle, so they had invented a process called the Drift by which to allow the two minds to meld together and work in tandem with each other. This was only possible for those who were Drift Compatible. The deeper the personal bond, the stronger the trust, the more plausible it would be for the pilots to Drift. By the end of the very long interview, it was made clear that more Jaegers were in development as they were speaking, and that the PPDC was looking for new recruits to join the program.
It was at this that Dipper and Mabel turned to look at one another. Dipper had a stronger bond with Mabel than with anyone. He trusted her with his life. Mabel knew the same applied to her with Dipper. There couldn't be a more powerful bond between two people than theirs. They were only a few years too young to join the ranks of the PPDC. Perhaps, once they turned eighteen…
Mabel unfolded her old sweater from the day of the attack, still just as ragged and dusty as always. She looked intently at the smiling robot at its centre, and Dipper stared at it too. And they knew. They simply knew what they had to do with their lives.
It was at this point that Dipper's memories started to shift and move like sand once again. Countless memories since that day flowed through his mind. He saw him and Mabel training themselves up for years. He saw them enter the selection process for the Jaeger Program. Saw their first failed attempt at Drifting, and then their second, far more successful attempt. He saw them entering the Shatterdome, their new home and the base of operations, and meeting with their great uncles Stanford and Stanley, who together had piloted the prototype to take down Karloff. He saw the way the project leaders praised him and his sister, saying that they had never seen such strong Drift Compatibility. And at long last, he saw their Mark III Jaeger, Reaper Gemini, gigantic and majestic, white and black and shining in the light of the Shatterdome, like a gigantic knight of steel.
Slowly, he felt himself coming out of the deepest regions of his mind, and the memories, so vivid and lifelike, faded away at long last. Even unconscious, he was glad the recollection was over. When in the memories during sleep, he felt as if he were there in the moment, unaware of anything else but what was happening in the memory, forgetting that it was years in the past and not right now. Reliving the destruction of San Fran, the death of his parents, was not at all pleasant. And it wasn't the first time he had dreamt of it. It was amongst the worst of his nightmares, reminding him just how powerful an enemy they were dealing with.
Now, other nightmares swept in to take its place. Thousands of Kaiju emerging from the Breach at once, swarming the earth. Jaeger after Jaeger falling to them. Flashes of Gemini going down, of Mabel being torn out of the cockpit by a Kaiju, only its horrifying eldritch eyes visible in an otherwise shadowy visage. She screamed in terror and agony, reaching out for her brother as she vanished from his sight. He screamed as loud as he could, reaching out, trying to grab her hand, but he was too late, and pure horror flooded his system. He didn't want to live anymore, hoped the Kaiju would finish him off too. He stared into the Kaiju's nightmarish eye, begging not to be made to live anymore, wanting nothing more than to die with his sister, he couldn't live without her, he just couldn't, she was all he had! But before the beast could do anything, it was replaced by the sight of Mabel falling over and over again, her screams and the screams of Stan and Ford and everyone else he cared about flooding his ears, and all he could do was scream and beg and cry, and…
Dipper awoke with a violent start, a gasp escaping him as he did. For a few seconds he lashed out at nothing, before realising he was back to consciousness. He let out a long, shaky breath of relief and put his head in his hands. His heart was thundering and his whole body was shaking and drenched in cold sweat. A few tears were still shedding from his eyes. Slowly, he calmed down a little, the anxiety that was rattling around him quieting down and fading into the background a little more. He let out a sigh, and slowly removed his head from his hands and leaned his back against the concrete wall of his and Mabel's room. As he readjusted himself to reality, he took in the small space.
It wasn't exactly cosy, having been built more for practical purposes than for comfort, but it had been their space for two years at this point, and by now, the Shatterdome was home. On the top bunk above him, he heard Mabel roll over in her sleep, her bed creaking loudly as she did. It was reassuring to hear her move, to be reminded that she was safe and sound.
Well, not exactly safe. Nobody was really safe when you lived in an age of monsters, especially not when you were the people who fought those monsters. But still, she was alive and well, and that was what mattered. He couldn't stand the thought of losing her too, it would break him.
Dipper sat as he was for another ten minutes or so, still calming down and readjusting. It was always horrible, getting lost in dark memories when asleep. Once you enter the Drift-space of the mind whilst unconscious, it feels real. It feels as though you are in the moment, forgetting all that came since and simply being as you were all those years ago, unaware of what was coming. And it hit so hard every single damn time. Seeing their parents die again was not something he wanted to relive, yet he had done so multiple times at this point. So had Mabel, he knew she had, but she never liked to talk about it. Neither did he. It was the worst day of their lives, and their parents… god they missed them. To think it had been six whole years since they died, six whole years that they had never been able to see their parents, to hug them, speak with them, or do anything with them. They were gone now. Forever. And that one word hurt so much when he thought of his parents.
He pushed it aside as best he could for now. Pushed the pain back inside, even as nightmare flashes of Mabel dying went through his head. He couldn't lose her too, and he wasn't going to. They would always fight for each other, and that was never going to change.
Eventually, Dipper got to his feet and quietly padded over to the little faucet and sink. He wasn't going to go back to sleep tonight, that much he knew. He turned on the faucet and splashed water on his face, cleaning away the sweat. After drying his face, he looked into the mirror over the sink. He looked so different these days. His face was older, and had several noticeable scars. His eyes always had a hint of the sadness and loss he had experienced. His chin was stronger and his cheekbones more pronounced, reflecting the metamorphosis puberty had long since brought over him. Heck, his whole body looked different these days. He was tall, not to mention muscular and lean from two years of piloting and many more years of training. And yet, when he looked at his reflection on nights like these, all he could see was himself as he was all those years ago, a small thirteen year old boy, coated with ash and blood, eyes empty and lost.
He looked away, and instead focused on filling a glass with water and using it to take a couple of anxiety meds, hoping it would help to stave off the anxiety that still lingered. His hands were still shaking a little, he noticed, but hopefully that would come to a halt soon. Slowly he turned around to go back to bed. He was thinking of probably reading a book by flashlight for a while to pass the rest of the night.
"Dipper?"
He jumped a little before realising his sister had woken up and was now looking at him with concern. He swallowed, hoping he could play it off as if it were nothing.
"What?" he asked, his voice faltering a little.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
"What? Nothing, Mabel, I'm fine. I was just getting some water".
"Dipper, after twenty years of knowing me, do you really think I can't recognise your anxiety face?"
Dipper sighed.
"Is it really that obvious?"
"Maybe it wouldn't be to anyone else, but it is to me, yeah".
She sat upright and swung her legs over the side of her bed.
"Mabel, seriously, I'm okay. Just had a few nightmares is all, I'll be fine".
She ignored him and lightly hopped out of bed, landing on her feet on the floor. He looked at her, standing there in her tank top and grey pyjama shorts that served as her nightclothes. She looked just as different as he did these days. She was very lean and muscular too, and tall. Her face was older, more mature just as his was, with more defined cheek bones to match his own, along with plenty of scars of her own (you were bound to get plenty in this line of work after all), and her hair was cut short unlike how it went all the way down her back those many years ago. And yet, just like with himself, on nights like these he would look at her and see her as she had been all those years ago, stood there covered in dust and dried out blood, her sweater torn and ragged and her eyes full of emptiness, staring out into nothing.
Snapping back to focus, Dipper saw her walking towards him.
"Come on, you really don't need to. Just go back to bed, sis".
She said nothing, simply opened her arms up and enveloped him in a tight hug, and fuck, Dipper hadn't realised just how much he had needed that as his arms automatically folded around her too and hugged her back just as tightly. He buried his face in her shoulder and hair and let out a long, shuddering breath.
"It's alright, I got you bro-bro", Mabel said, rubbing his back.
For a few minutes they stayed like that, until finally Dipper was able to bring himself to let go and separated from her. She reached out a hand and placed it on his stubbly cheek, and he found himself instinctively leaning into her touch.
"I'm guessing you're nightmares involved a trip down memory lane" Mabel tentatively guessed.
"Yeah", Dipper said. "Nothing neither of us haven't seen before. Then it just sort of became a regular nightmare, and…"
"What?"
"I don't really wanna say it out loud", he admitted. "Just… I'm glad you're okay".
Mabel knew full and well that that meant he'd had a nightmare about her being killed in one way or another. She knew what those kinds of dreams were like, she had seen Dipper perish in nightmares of her own before, and it was awful.
"I'm glad you're okay too", she said, giving him a small smile.
He smiled back, feeling great relief sweeping through him.
"I just… the thought of losing you, it breaks me Mabel. I don't know what I would do if I lost you".
"Well, you're not going to brozone. We'll be fine".
"You can't know that Mabel", he said. "And… I just… look at what's happening right now. Jaegers are going down all the time. The Kaiju keep getting stronger and faster, and we're not keeping up. It feels like one day we're gonna run out of time, like they're gonna beat us and wipe us out for good. We're losing this war, Mabel, and the Kaiju are just gonna keep coming and coming, and I hate to admit it, but… I'm scared".
"There's nothing wrong with being scared, Dipper", Mabel said. "We live in a scary world these days, and sometimes things don't look great for us. But you wanna know a secret?"
"What?"
"I'm scared too. So is everyone, and I know the other rangers are too. Everyone on the planet is, the world is way too monster-y for them not to be".
Dipper chuckled, thinking fondly on how only his sister would word it that way.
"To tell the truth, every time we go up against a Kaiju, I still feel terrified", she admitted.
"Me too. I guess there's no way of really getting used to fighting gigantic apocalypse monsters. But it's not just that. It gets to me sometimes, this whole thing", Dipper said. "I guess I get a little freaked out, you know. It just feels so hopeless sometimes".
"Well, sometimes it does feel hopeless", Mabel said. "I know that. Heck, maybe it is hopeless, I don't really know. But the point is… even if it is hopeless, even if we don't stand a chance against the Kaiju in the long run… the important thing is that we still stood and fought back. We did as much as we could to give people the best lives they could live under the circumstances, and to give them as much time as we possibly could. That's the most important thing, that even if we fail, we gave people more time. We gave them more time to live their lives, more time to be with their families. And I think that's a beautiful thing".
"It is", Dipper said, his eyes shining at his sister's words. "I mean… that's the whole reason we became rangers, right? To do as much as we could to prevent as many people as possible from suffering the same loss that we did".
"Exactly", Mabel said, cheerily booping Dipper on the nose. "So when it starts to get too much, when it freaks out your brainium like it has tonight, just keep that biz in mind. And remember that I'll always be here by your side to fight with you. I'm always gonna fight for you Dipdop. We're a team. Partners. In crime and various other shenanigans".
Dipper snorted loudly at that, eliciting one of his sister's big toothy grins in response.
"I'm always gonna fight for you too", he said.
"I know that, silly".
"Still bears saying".
"Yeah, I suppose it does. C'mere, dorkface", she said as she pulled her brother into another quick hug.
When they let go, the two of them turned to face the mirror over the sink.
"Does it ever feel weird to you how different we look these days?" Mabel said. "Sometimes I look at us and it just feels like looking back at how we looked when we were kids, when… when we lost them".
"Same", Dipper admitted. "I was feeling like that tonight actually".
"Heh, guess that's just another thing we twinchronise on".
"That's not even a word", Dipper said.
"It is now", Mabel replied, eliciting some sniggers from the both of them.
"But really, it's incredible how much time has passed", Dipper said. "I mean… if someone had told me before that we would grow up to fight monsters in a giant robot, I would never have believed them, and I'm the one who sneaked out onto the roof to look for UFOs when we were kids".
"Me neither", Mabel said. "It feels weird. I forget about my old dreams sometimes, you know. This just became so much my purpose in life that I forget about what I wanted out of life before. I forget about wanting to be an artist, or a singer, or an actress, or any of those things".
"It's the same for me", Dipper said, scratching the back of his neck as he thought back. "Do you remember? Before all this monster apocalypse stuff, I always wanted to start my own ghost hunting show. I almost never think about that anymore".
"Oh yeah, I do remember that", Mabel said, her eyes widening in recognition. "You wanted to be the world's most famous ghost hunter, and win awards and stuff".
Dipper laughed fondly upon remembering it all. Those dreams seemed so far away these days.
"Hey", Mabel said, nudging him in the ribs with her elbow. "Maybe one day you can still do it".
"Do what?"
"The ghost show dealy, dumdum".
"I don't know, doesn't seem all that likely now", Dipper said. "Especially considering the state of the world today".
"Well, I mean, sure", Mabel said, "right now things look bad. But Dipper, one day we really might win this war. And if we do, our lives are gonna enter a whole new chapter. There wouldn't be any monsters to punch anymore, so we could bring back our old dreams".
"I… I guess you're right", Dipper said, smiling at the thought. "Maybe… someday".
"I could even give you a hand with it", Mabel said. "So long as you help out with my projects too", she added with a sly grin.
"Of course I would", Dipper said. "I wouldn't miss out on a chance to work with my favourite sister".
"So we agree… if this whole thing goes well, and we live to see a Kaiju-free world, we're still gonna work together like we always have. Deal?"
"Deal", Dipper agreed, bumping fists with his sister and giving her a big toothy smile to match her own.
"You feeling any better bro?" Mabel said.
"Yeah… a lot, actually", he said. And he meant it. Already so much tension and anxiety had left him, and he felt a lot better. Even in a world plagued by gigantic monsters, a world in which they risked their lives on a regular basis to defeat those monsters, Dipper would always have his sister right there beside him through thick and thin. And that was the most precious and important thing in the world to him.
"Good, glad to hear it", Mabel said. "And remember Dipper, next time you feel like this, don't hesitate to wake me up. It's my sisterly duty to make sure you stay a happy and healthy Dipper".
"Thanks", Dipper said. "Same goes to you though. My brotherly duty is exactly the same as your sisterly one".
"I know, Dip. And don't forget, even when the odds are stacked against the whole world, you're never alone in this fight. We'll do it together just like we always have".
Dipper said nothing else, simply rested his forehead against Mabel's for a few moments and hoped she knew just how thankful he was for her.
"Alright, I think we best get some shuteye", Dipper said after they pulled away. "Gotta make sure we're in prime condition, and so on".
Mabel nodded, and they headed back towards the bunk beds. Truth be told, Dipper still felt as though he probably wouldn't sleep that night. The nightmares had simply made sleep unappealing. He still felt a little anxiety and tension, but it was manageable now, and he was gonna be able to at least relax if not sleep. Still smiling like an idiot, he clambered into bed, lay on his back and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath.
However, when a few seconds passed and Dipper didn't hear Mabel climbing back up to the top bunk, or even the sound of her feet moving, he wondered what she was doing. However, a moment later he felt her sitting down on his bed, the springs creaking as she did. He opened his eyes to look at her again, confusion written on his features.
"Alright, move over", she said.
"Um, what?" Dipper said.
"Dipper, you're my twin", Mabel said. "I can read you like an open book. Heck, thanks to Drifting I've literally seen inside your mind. Multiple times. Kinda creepy in there actually", she joked, eliciting a snigger from her brother.
"Mabel, seriously, I'll be fine", he said.
"Nah, I can tell you're still feeling a little off. I bet if I just went back to my bed you probably wouldn't sleep so much as a wink. Now come on, scooch".
He rolled his eyes without any real feeling behind it.
"Fine", he said in mock exasperation, before shifting himself against the wall.
Mabel got under the covers with him, lying down next to him. She turned onto her front and draped a single arm over Dipper's chest, before placing her head in the space between his neck and shoulder and closing her eyes.
"You know, I still might not be able to fall asleep", Dipper said, though he didn't even try to stop the smile that spread across his face.
"I know", she said, her voice muffled against the bedsheets. "But I'm still gonna stay right here either way to keep those bad vibes at bay".
"Well, can't complain about that", Dipper admitted with a chuckle.
And sure enough, Dipper was already feeling better for having her there next to him. He could feel the last of his anxiety and nervous tension melting away, and before long he was beginning to truly relax and unwind. The rickety little bed was far too small for the both of them, so Dipper was a little squished against the wall, and Mabel could feel at least a little of her body being suspended over thin air, but neither of them could bring themselves to care right now.
"Goodnight, Mabel", Dipper muttered.
"Goodnight, Dipper", Mabel mumbled back.
Now feeling completely at ease, Dipper found himself slowly drifting from the waking world. Maybe he really was going to get a little sleep after all. He smiled one last time as he started to fade from consciousness
And then the alarm started wailing and the red lights flashing.
"Oooorrrrr, maybe not", Dipper groaned.
"Looks like it's go time", Mabel said.
The two of them rolled out of the bed and hopped to their feet. The voice of their Grunkle Stan came in over the speaker in the right hand corner of the room.
"Alright people, look alive! We've got a Category 3 Kaiju headin' straight toward us, codename Gremlob! Dipper, Mabel, get your butts up here, we're sendin' out Gemini!"
After getting suited up into their Drivesuits, Dipper and Mabel walked briskly side by side towards the command centre. Upon arrival, Stan, who was the commander of the Shatterdome, approached them.
"Alright kids, good luck out there", he said, trying and failing to mask his concern.
"Thanks Grunkle Stan", Mabel said, her voice muffled through her helmet.
"We'll be fine", Dipper reassured. "Trust me, we've got this".
The two of them fist bumped, an identical look of determination on both their faces.
"Yeah, I know", Stan said proudly, clapping each of them on the shoulder in turn. "Now get out there and save our bacon. We've got Blubs and Durland on backup if you need it, but I think I'm pretty confident that you two can kick this thing's ass".
With that the two of them walked away, heading towards the launch zone, and soon enough were on the walkway leading into the back of Gemini's head. Once inside, the doorway automatically shut behind them, and they sealed were inside the conn-pod.
"You ready?" Dipper said, grinning with excitement, anticipation and downright fear all at once.
"Oh, you know it, brosephine", Mabel said, giving an identical grin in return.
The two of them briefly placed their helmets together to look one another in the eye.
"Let's do this", they chorused.
With that they positioned themselves over at the two apparatuses that would connect them to the Jaeger. Positioning themselves, the machines attached themselves to them and connected to their suits. The Jaeger was slowly powering up, the steady hum like that of a plane's engines filling their ears as an array of displays and lights came to life. The hangar doors opened, and they were steadily towed along towards the sea. Just as they were about to initiate the Drift, a familiar voice filled their headsets.
"A rude awakening, I see", came the voice of Stanford.
"Oh, hey Grunkle Ford", Mabel said.
"What's up?" Dipper asked.
"Oh nothing much, just thought I ought to tell you that I recently took the liberty of installing a few new features onto Gemini".
"Really?!" Mabel yelped excitedly.
"Yes", Ford said. "I installed two new weapons. Gemini's hands can now be transformed into drills, and I had a shockwave canon installed in the abdominal region. She'll be even deadlier now, I believe".
"Oh, heck yes!" Mabel said.
"That sounds pretty cool", Dipper said, barely able to contain his excitement. "Looking forward to giving them a test run".
"Yes, I'll be very curious to see the results. Good luck out there, kids. I'll see you two when you get back".
"Bye Grunkle Ford!" the two of them said in unison as Ford cut off the signal.
"Alright knuckleheads", came Stan's voice. "Remember, we got a lot ridin' on this. Heck of a lot of lives at risk right now if we… if we fail", he said, refusing to mention their potential deaths.
"We know, Grunkle Stan", Dipper said. "We've got a two year record, and we're still going strong".
"Yeah, we're gonna go kick monster butt, and we'll be back before you even know it", Mabel chimed in.
"That's my girl!" Stan whooped. "Now, how 'bout you two initiate the Drift, yer almost ready to launch".
"Oh yeah, of course", Mabel said. "Adoy!"
"Let's do this", Dipper said, and together the two of them hit the activation switch and flowed into the Drift. For a minute, all either of them could see or experience were memories, some of their own, and some from their twin. Their minds latched onto one another and merged together into a perfectly synchronized team, functioning as a single unit. Snapping back to reality, the two of them once again became conscious in the conn-pod.
"Heh heh, still kinda tickles", Mabel giggled just as the Jaeger was launched into the sea.
Landing on the seafloor with a loud crash, the two of them righted their position, Reaper Gemini doing the same in turn without even a second's delay. They began to march out to sea, and before long they were striding out into the deeper water.
"The Kaiju is about thirty miles west of your current position", Stan said over the transceiver. "Try and make sure ya kill this thing before it gets too close to the coast, eh?"
"We know the drill", Mabel said.
"Literally, if you think about Ford's newest addition", Dipper said.
Mabel snorted.
"That was terrible", she said.
"Hey, you're connected to my mind right now, you knew it was coming".
"It was still terrible".
Dipper stuck his tongue out at her, and she did the same in turn, though neither of them could keep their giggles at bay.
They kept an eye on the radar system, seeing the blob that was the Kaiju's signature growing ever nearer, swimming rapidly towards them. Another ten minutes of marching out through the sea, and the blob was almost upon them.
"Brace yourself", Dipper said, feeling the same nervousness and fear he always did before a fight.
"I'm already pre-braced and ready to go", Mabel said.
Before Dipper could get another word in, the gigantic beast launched itself out of the sea and collided with them. The twins yelped in surprise, just barely steadying themselves before they could be forced underwater. Grabbing hold of the monster, they punched it in the jaw, swung it round once, then launched it away from themselves. It crashed into the sea, sending an enormous tower of water into the air. Dipper and Mabel steadied themselves, then set their Jaeger into a fighting stance. A short way away from them, Gremlob recovered and got to his feet once again. They got their first proper look at the Kaiju, and as was the usual, they both felt the surge of fear that a Kaiju always induced. The thing was massive, a little ways taller than their Jaeger. It was somewhat gorilla shaped, keeping itself stood up on its knuckles. It was a mass of muscle, with its enormous pair of forearms looking as though they could tear them apart in an instant. The thing was dark green with a hideous, troll-like face and a back covered in an impressive row of spines. Its glaring eyes glowed electric green.
"Alright, let's do what we do best", Dipper said.
"Couldn't agree more, bro-bro. CHAAAAAARGE!"
With a great burst of speed, the two of them charged directly towards the enormous Kaiju, Gemini setting an impressive sight against the lightning flashing overhead. Gremlob saw their approach and let loose a monstrous roar, its breath lighting up the same green as its eyes as it did so, and began its own charge, running at top speed on its four powerful legs, screeching and roaring every step of the way. Inside the Conn-Pod Dipper and Mabel let loose a war cry of their own, adrenaline flooding their system and their hearts pounding. A moment later, two monsters, one of flesh and the other of steel, collided headfirst into battle.