Author's Note: Takes place after the events of "Illusion of Home". Please read that first if you haven't already- otherwise this isn't going to make a whole lot of sense.. Or, if you'd like the full effect, please start before that with "Symbiosis".

Again, kind of AUish. Please R&R. :)

At The End of The World

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Red.

It was the only thing Chuck Hansen could see.

Water had started flooding into the Connpod freely now, and outside, within the frigid black depths of the Pacific Ocean, two Kaiju were rapidly converging upon Striker. Chuck wished he could retain some sort of hope- like most people tried to do in dire situations. But he would have only been kidding himself. Most of their systems were offline, the AKM launchers were jammed, and Gipsy was too far away.

There was no escape.

He could hear Pentecost to his right, who already seemed to realize and accept the gravity of the situation. He'd been yelling something over the comm system, and in a way that Chuck had never quite heard the other man speak before. It'd been difficult to make out though.. The sound of water meeting machinery along with the Jaeger's various system failure alarms had drowned nearly everything else out with ease.

Stacker's gaze snapped over the Australian boy, and Chuck did what he could to keep his terror in check.

"What can we do, sir?" In the corner of his mind he'd prayed that there may have been some miraculous, hidden solution he'd simply failed to see. It was already obvious though as to what the Marshal's answer would be.

"We can clear a path... for the Lady..!"

Pentecost wanted to detonate the payload.

With Gipsy crippled and a devastating two way attack imminent, it was the only viable option they had left. The younger man tore off his helmet and threw it carelessly to the ground, blue eyes meeting with Stacker's- devoid of hesitation.

"Well, my father always said... He said if you have a shot then you take it..! So let's do this."

Had his drivesuit not been hooked up to the Connpod's intricate wiring then, Chuck would have given his commanding officer a proper salute.

"It was a pleasure, sir."

He was afraid. More-so than he'd ever been in his entire life. Up until then, Chuck Hansen's days had consisted solely of being revered as a Mark 5 Jaeger pilot- held up on a pedestal by not only the people around him, but by the entire world. Doing what he wanted, when he wanted to because of it. Killing monsters and saving the world was all he'd ever known. He'd been young; reckless. Cocky. And perhaps at times, he'd even done things for the wrong reasons- far from immune to the high that came with world-renowned fame.

But in the end, Chuck knew what was important. And that seeing this through until the end held more meaning than his life ever would.

Reaching up, he used a gloved hand to carefully flip a series of switches on the main control panel. Stacker did the same on his end, until there was only one switch left to press.

They always said in movies and books that your life flashed before your eyes the moment before it ended.. But Chuck knew now that that wasn't true. At least not for him. Despite all of his fame and his pride... he honestly felt that there wasn't much worth remembering. He thought of his mother; that last morning he'd seen her in 2014. His father. All of the things he had bared to him in the Drift but never bothered to say aloud. Chuck had spent so long feeling bitter, and hateful. Years. And deep down, he wondered if his dad could ever forgive him for it.

And then- there was...

'I love you...'

Jaz...

She'd only said it to him once... but Chuck had replayed those three simple words over and over again in his head every day since. It had kept him going, in a way... He still hated her for leaving him. She'd broken his heart. But at least now, he could go out knowing that he'd still had a heart to break inside of him all along. Because more than anything, Chuck found that he hated himself. For never telling her how much she'd meant to him... or that he loved her too.

'Sorry that I won't be able to see you again, Becket.'

His index finger lingered over the control panel as the bomb on Striker Eureka's back whirred to life, armed and waiting.

'All of this, though- it'll all be over soon.'

Trembling, Chuck gave a small nod to Stacker and silently pressed that final switch.

He knew he was doing the right thing.

.

.

"My body is like a lightning rod
Capsize me and douse me in your bay
A shiver of want- always
When you are on the tip of my tongue
In the back of your parked car, I could build a fort
And play all day, between your lips

Let's stay here forever..."