Prologue
Nobody could quite believe that the breach had been closed. Least of all the Gipsy Danger pilots, Mako Mori and Raleigh Beckett. The dozens of interviews, the parade, the hero's welcome back home all passed in a blur. Mako personally thought it would have continued in that happy dreamlike state if she hadn't woken late one night after a nightmare about Stacker.
"Stacker!" Came the cry from her lips.
"Mako!" Raleigh came running in. Ever since the drift they had demanded shared quarters and as the heroes of the world, they couldn't exactly be denied whether it was an inconvenience or not. "Mako are you ok?" He came over and she threw her arms around him. "Ssh, Ssh, its ok Mako, I'm right here, I've got you." Soon she had calmed down.
"Oh, Raleigh, it was terrible! Stacker and the Kaijus and then the explosion…" she began.
"I know, but it's over now. There was nothing anyone could have done to save him."
"But I could have…"
"No Mako, you couldn't have. No-one could." And deep down she knew he was right. She didn't know when but she must have gone to sleep at some point because when she awoke, sunlight was streaming in through the window.
From then on, she loathed every second of the victory tours, the stupid, stupid parades but the one thing she hated most of all was the interviews and their goddamn pointless questions. She didn't deserve this. She wasn't a Hero! It was the others, Striker Eureka, Crimson Typhoon, Cherno Alpha and their pilots that were heroes.
Raleigh was worried as were the doctors but they eventually wrote it off as depression. She loved Raleigh, of course she did, but she also loathed his guts at the same time.
"Mako, you must eat something!" Glaring at him she grabbed a biscuit. She didn't see why she should. He sighed and then said, "We have a meeting today." When she stared at him blankly he added, "About the funerals." The funerals.
"I don't want to."
"Mako, you have to. All the representatives and the families will be there." Oh, God. What could be worse? The families would hate them for being the ones to return and not their loved ones. For receiving a hero's welcome when the funerals lay forgotten.
"They will hate us, Raleigh."
"I know, but the government is relying on us. Mako, it's our duty." When he saw that he wasn't getting anywhere he tried a different approach. "Mako, Stacker would have done the same for you, for us." He was right. Stacker would have gone without question, met the resentful and angry looks of her family and demanded a proper hero's funeral. The thought made her angry.
"I will go." She would go and she would lay white lilies on his coffin, read out his favorite poem from his favorite book, but most of all she would be there. She would be there and she would salute his coffin and give him the send-off that he deserved.
"Then let's do this." Raleigh said and offered his hand to her. She took it and they walked silently to the meeting room.