Thanks to the lovely folks at TheBetaBranch (red_b_rackham, Tenebrielle in particular) for looking this over, as well as Red_Tigress both for yelling at me until I wrote this and started on the new chapter. Please, let me know what you think!
Full Summary: Before they were the Three Musketeers (and later, the Three Musketeers plus d'Artagnan), there was Savoy Bravo. That is to say, there was Aramis and there was Marsac, and then there was the Drift that connected them. Everything changed when Savoy Bravo went down. Or, the one where Aramis realizes Athos was right when he said fighting kaiju isn't child's play. Pacific Rim AU. Because of reasons.
This was crossposted to Ao3 way back when. In celebration of series 2 beginning, I thought I may as well post this. It's part of a larger series called 'my head is an animal' but everything will be posted here under this title/name.
clear skies ever closer (my head is an animal!verse)
The first time Aramis ever steps into a jaeger, it's Savoy Bravo and Marsac's in the helm beside him. He's eighteen and still thinks fighting a kaiju will be the coolest thing ever. Marsac's the vet out of the two of them, and not even his dire (exaggerated) warnings can take the badass factor out of getting to go mano-a-mano with a kaiju.
At least, that's what Aramis thinks. He keeps thinking that right up to when a category 2 kaiju jumps Savoy Bravo's back and tries to tear them apart.
When they get back to the hanger, they go through post flight check-ups, store their flight suits, and head back to their quarters. Marsac's a reassuring presence at his back, and Aramis notes with some surprise that Marsac doesn't race him to the showers. Instead, he just stands there watching Aramis as though he expect something to happen.
"Congrats, kid," Marsac tells him, "You just killed your first kaiju."
Then the nausea hits, and Aramis races to the toilet where he throws up.
(He's never going to forget the aching terror, the certainty that each hit will be the last the jaeger can take.
He'll never forget Marsac's light laughter, the way he hands Aramis a whiskey and says "welcome to the club."
He'll never forget sleeping curled up in his cot and dreaming of endlessly churning waves that pull him down, down, down.)
The fourth time Aramis steps into a jaeger, it's with unshakable confidence and Marsac's laughter brimming in his chest. He's hardly turned nineteen and is certain that by the time he's twenty, they'll be known as one of the best jaeger teams in the world, not just the country. He knows he's right because Marsac agrees with him, and Marsac is always more than happy to tell Aramis how wrong he usually is.
"Your target is thirty miles east of the Bay and closing fast," Athos states over the comm. System. Aramis tries to focus on the words, but knows Marsac will tell him in the Drift if he misses anything important. "It's on the higher scale of Category 2, by the Cardinal's report. Your orders are to stop it before it makes landfall and to not do anything stupid."
"You do care, Athos," Aramis says cheerfully. Beside him, Marsac snorts as they finish their rushed pre-flight checks. "Besides, the public loves to see Rangers being stupid."
Marsac gives him a glance, and it's only because they've been partners for so long that Aramis can read mischief under irritation. "Say, Aramis, who was that Ranger who showed up drunk to the CNN press conference last year? I don't remember him at any of our more recent ones. Do you think he's okay?"
"Marsac-" Athos' voice is just south of a growl.
"I hear he's grounded since his partner was put in charge of a Shatterdome. Athos, do you know what he's been up to?"
"Aramis," that definitely got a growl from the man. "Focus."
The conn. pod locks into place, Savoy Bravo shuddering as final latches click into place.
"Sorry Athos," Marsac chimes in quickly. "I forgot that was you. Funny how things slip my mind."
"Your first priority is the kaiju," Richelieu's voice breaks into their levity. Aramis barely bites back a retort that would probably get them in trouble, and he dodges a light kick from Marsac. "Don't let anything distract you from that. Initiating neural handshake in five…. Four…"
Aramis casts a grin at Marsac, who is in the midst of rolling his eyes.
Then there is nothing between them, for they are the Drift.
Tapping a hundredth of a second after his opponent, losing the point and the match in one go
There's no body at the funeral because they dropped a nuke on the city.
I'll come back for you. I love you. I promise.
"I'm dropping out of high school to be a Ranger, Dad."
She's pregnant and he'll never forget the way she looked at him when he said he wanted to be a Ranger.
A cigarette leaving its burn mark on his skin, but he's laughing because
His mom blows out the candles on the cake
Waking up after a concussion swimming at night with her body against him as he finally beats his rival in sabre and he thinks he's in love because he's never going to drink again and there's blood dripping from his nose, accidents just happen kid, better luck next time, and he's finally allowed to prove himself in a jaeger and –
They'll be the best.
Time to prove it.
"Neural handshake holding steady," the voice of the tech chimes in just as Aramis and Marsac open their eyes.
"Left's good," Marsac says. He can practically hear Athos sighing at the informality, but it's Richelieu who cuts in.
"Right hemisphere?"
"Right linked and ready. Awaiting deployment," Aramis states quietly, and they slide into a ready stance.
"You know your orders," Richelieu says. "Deploy when ready."
That's all Aramis and Marsac need to lean forward as one and engage the motor controls.
They find the kaiju easily, because really, it's not very difficult to find a giant sea monster that wants to do nothing less than stomp over some nice human cities. Last time, it was Aramis who make first strike so he gracefully hands the reins to Marsac and lets the soothing feeling of the Drift tell him what to do.
Marsac isn't like Aramis, who prefers to dodge and score attacks where he sees openings. Marsac jumps into the fray with a confidence in Savoy Bravo that Aramis will never be able to muster, not even if he kills a thousand kaijus without a scratch. But he can feel Marsac's confidence as Aramis pulls up the weapons panel, and so Marsac's confidence is his confidence.
They both reach for the bladed weapons, even though Aramis is the only one doing the actual movements. It's a simply matter to turn and lop off the kaiju's forelimb as it swipes furiously at them. It lunges at the jaeger, battering at Savoy Bravo with its remaining limbs. Their jaeger shudders with the impact, but when Aramis glances at the armor readings, it's nothing serious.
"Time to stop playing," Marsac states, and there's a cheerful sort of bloodlust bubbling under his skin.
"I thought this was a category two," Aramis responds under his breath as the kaiju tears out of the ocean and screams.
The sound makes Marsac falter, but Aramis is there to dodge and they're blending in the drift until he's not sure which one of them is doing the fighting and which of them moves his arms to pull the next weapon into the thick of the battle. Their blade stabs in the heart of the kaiju and it's all Aramis who disengages with a flourish, stepping back and letting the kaiju slip off the point of the sword and splash into the water.
"I miss fencing," Aramis remarks wistfully.
"I do too," Marsac tells him, and although Marsac has never fenced before in his life, they share in the same desire to hit the piste once more. Maybe after this, Aramis will put a sabre into Marsac's hand and see what he can do.
"I like how you think," Marsac says, picking up on that trailing thought. "But aren't you worried I'm going to beat-"
Marsac's sentence is broken when the pain hits, and Aramis starts screaming. The kaiju hadn't fallen after all – it had simply sunk below the water and bitten straight through the left foot of Savoy Bravo. Savoy reels off balance, and for a moment Aramis can only blink as the jaeger shudders in pain, Marsac groaning as Aramis' piercing agony reverberates through the Drift. The kaiju doesn't let up, gnawing on the limb with a single minded determination as kaiju blood and hydraulic fluid fill the ocean.
Marsac snaps out of it before Aramis. He's survived the destruction of one jaeger before, and although he and Aramis are both on one knee, it's a simple matter to stab down into the kaiju once more and divert power into the broken wires. The kaiju screams in rage as electricity courses through it, and Aramis finds the Drift once more, his teeth bared in determination. It's a simple matter to assist Marsac, to let him guide their limbs – simply enough that, as the kaiju manages to free itself and lunge at them once more, he realizes too late what intentions Marsac had concealed from him.
The kaiju's blow aims straight for the conn. pod and the shriek of torn metal deafens Aramis as Marsac maintains control. Quickly, they twist the jaegers head at the last moment, deflecting the hit that would have ripped Savoy Bravo's head clean off.
Instead of decapitating them entirely, it slices into Aramis' half of the conn. pod and sends pieces flying into the ocean. Even as its teeth aim for their heads, its claws tear into the shoulder joint of the jaeger and maul it beyond recognition.
"Shit," Aramis yells as the drift tears in two between them for a brief moment before it settles back in place, a wavering connection between the two of them. The Kaiju continues to claw at them and Aramis casts a glance at Marsac frantically typing in codes. Each movement sends bursts of agony into Aramis and he has to glance down at his foot to make sure it's still there.
"Sorry we won't be fencing anytime soon," Marsac says, and Aramis can feel the way his mouth moves in a lopsided grin. Marsac's doing something, but as the kaiju continues to tear away at Aramis' half of Savoy, it's all Aramis can do to stop the backlash from crippling his partner. He grips at his shoulder instead, half convinced it should be the ragged, oozing mess the kaiju has made of Savoy's joints in its attempts to get at them. Marsac's too good for it to reach them – he keeps the twisting and turning even as rain pours into the conn. pod. The kaiju is too large, too frenzied to keep off for long.
"Marsac, no-" Aramis chokes out as the Ranger's fingers touch the eject button and activate the Crisis Command Matrix all at once.
The rigging lowers around him, the escape pod forming faster than Aramis would have thought possible. He can feel the burn of his suit through the haze of pain as it overloads and fails all at once.
His escape pod tumbles out through the remains of Savoy Bravo's skull, but Aramis is still trapped in the Drift, anchored with Marsac as the man gasps for breath. The kaiju remains relentless, too enraged to give up and die despite numerous mortal wounds.
Marsac continues to fight, and Aramis can feel every moment of it as he drifts on wave and thought.
Then one last, final blow as their blade slams in the kaiju's skull.
It's too late, Aramis knows, because he can feel the kaiju's teeth tearing into him – no into Savoy Bravo. The kaiju finds the center of the jaeger and shreds it to pieces, and Aramis clutches at his ribs as kaiju and jaeger finally sink beneath the water and Marsac slips from Aramis' mind with one last pained (contented?) sigh.