A World Stricken With Paranoia
Raleigh hovered on the edge of consciousness, ascending from the Breach and into the deeps of the Pacific. He had given his oxygen supply to his partner, and now the consequences began to manifest. How long can he last without air in a tight escape pod, one floating from the bottom of the ocean? The tedium of the slow ascent only worsens his condition. How far was he now from the surface? "Miles deep," he thought to himself grimly, but that was far from the truth. In fact, his escape pod was scarcely more than a hundred meters from the surface; but he was losing consciousness fast. Before long, he succumbed to the shortage of air and slowly faded.
When he came to, the first thing he felt was Mako's strong arms holding him tight, coupled with pleas of Don't leave me.
"You're holding me too tight," he said to his partner in a parched, raspy voice, "I could hardly breathe."
After seeing the relief of his partner, Raleigh contacted LOCCENT to confirm the destruction of the Breach. Raleigh looked at his partner with fondness and gladness, happy that they had survived. Their foreheads touched. Their hands caressed each other, and both knew that their toil had come to an end. Helicopters and boats came to extract them, taking them back to their base.
Great roars of cheers and hails greeted their arrival, the heroes and saviors of Earth. It seemed unfair to them that their deeds would be congratulated for days to come, while the mourning of the fallen heroes – Marshall Pentecost, Chuck, Aleksis, Sasha and the Wei triplets – would have to wait.
For days, the heroes' deeds were celebrated, but now, the time for mourning had come. Mako mourned Stacker openly since the day of their assault, and Raleigh would always be there to give her emotional support. Within the few days they had drifted with each other, they had developed a bond, which had grown ever since. Like Dr. Lightcap before him, Raleigh became alive again after drifting with his partner and Mako found in him a person she could relate to – one with pain and suffering buried in his past.
Even without the bond, they could feel each other's thoughts as if they were their own, as an amputated patient could feel his severed arm. Nights there were, when one would knock on the other's door, offering comfort for nightmares. Raleigh had developed feelings for Mako even before their first drift, but he never told her about them other than his in-case-we-die talk with her before the assault on the Breach. "Does she know?" he often asked himself, "Surely she must. There are no secrets in the drift." And often he would try to summon the courage to ask her out – too soon, it may seem for some; but who now knew him better than the tiny girl living opposite to his room?
Yet he refrained himself from making such advancement while the shadow of Pentecost's death still hung in the air. In truth, Mako indeed knew of his feelings, but was unsure of them. Her adoptive father would certainly have disapproved of such a lover, but all the same, even if she does find another, the connection she had with the older pilot would invariably bring them back together.
Yet despite his disinclination and her doubt, they soon found themselves in each other's arms. But what would they do now? They are the world's elite Kaiju killers in a world without Kaiju, soldiers without enemies, tools without a purpose.
He had lived the life of a normal citizen during the war before, but Mako's only experience was from her childhood when her life was guided by the hands of her loving parents. Raleigh often wondered what might have been if Chuck and Stacker had not sacrificed their lives. How would they have adapted to this change; that their purpose in life was over. Would Chuck have returned to a rather peaceful life at Australia? Or would the young, unsociable Ranger fall into a rut like Raleigh did after Yancy died?
"What a pointless thought," Raleigh murmured, knowing that musing what could have been will not help him in the present. He caressed his partner, sleeping at his side, and remained wondering what the future had in store for them.
However the reports of the mission may be, the PPDC still maintained a watch around the Pacific, ready for the threat of another war. To the relief of many, it seemed, as this meant salary without much work.
Often Raleigh and Mako would spar with each other, as it had become a favorite pastime activity for both. And while both would like to believe that the war had finally ended forever, it was hard not to imagine another Breach opening. "And what of those Kaiju mites Newton saw in Chau's market?" Raleigh thought, "Are they connected to the hive mind? And if so, does that mean we have Kaiju-spies here on Earth?"
His train of thought lowered his situational awareness, and Mako easily swept his legs under him.
"You're getting sloppy," she said, now pointing her stick at her partner's face. She knew Raleigh well, having been inside his mind, and she knew the inherent unpredictability inside him. "He would most likely try to get up," she thought, but she was wrong. Raleigh yanked her stick and swept her legs, and she fell on top of him. They scuffled on the floor for a short while before stopping to catch their breaths.
Smiling, Raleigh stood up and made his way out of the room, "We should change; Herc will be giving his speech in an hour."
When they had dressed formally, they went straight to the main hangar where a press conference was being held. A few things had changed since the assault on the Breach: the Clock had stopped, and in place of the Jaegers, memorial plaques were engraved with the deeds of each Jaeger and her pilots. Most prominent change, however, was the life-size statue of Marshall Stacker Pentecost, carved in his likeness and image.
Raleigh and Mako were soon led to their seats- ones next to Herc.
"In the twelve years of war, we have lost friends, colleagues, and millions of lives," said Herc, "All snuffed out by the monsters that were at our door. And though we all would like to believe that the Apocalypse has finally been canceled, we cannot risk such a chance."
Herc cleared his throat as if he were deeply troubled by what he was about to announce: "By orders from the United Nations, we are to stand guard and set watch on the Pacific for a further ten years."
"Gentlemen, restart the Clock," Herc bellowed and the all too familiar ticking sound echoed in the dome again.
Gasps of shock came from the reporters as each tried to get more out of the veteran.
"But sir, don't you personally think that ten years is too long?" asked one,
"We don't have any Jaegers left, sir, how will we fight back should the portal reopens?" asked another,
"As much as I would like to think that Marshall Pentecost and my son's sacrifices have secured our planet, the UN does not share my beliefs," answered Herc, "And you can put the word out that the PPDC has been digging up graveyards."
He walked back to his quarters, having nothing more to announce.
The press soon turned their attention to the two Rangers, who were caught unawares. And soon the heroes found themselves failing to answer a barrage of questions – mostly about what lies beyond the Breach and the difficulties of drifting between people who had known each other for less than a few days.
After a long, weary hour during which they answered and dodged many questions, Raleigh and Mako retired to their rooms.
Raleigh went on to train martial arts to potential recruits, and Mako found herself leading the restoration program again.
"All this for a precaution?" some personnel wondered, having seen the actual amount of money the UN pooled to the restoration project.
But for Raleigh and Mako, the precaution proved tedious and dull; they were prepping soldiers to fight ghosts of the enemy they had defeated mere weeks before, and he could not take it any further.
Three nights after the announcement, Raleigh came knocking at Mako's door in the evening.
"This paranoia is too much," he said," I'm going to get some fresh air and coffee. You coming?"
There. My first fic! I watched the movie a week ago, and thought that it would be nice if someone made a fic of what comes afterwards. Feel free to tell me what you think of it!