Anchorage, Alaska, USA
February 28, 2020
Naomi and Yancy rested in each other's arms in the huge bed. The shine of the silver moon filtered in the room, which refracted on their bodies and the wrinkles of the bedsheet. Although the time spent together was sweet, after a while Yancy stretched a big and kissed his girlfriend. Finally, he wriggled out of her embrace and started to prepare moodily. Naomi knew – without words - what it means, but she tried to hold back her love.
"Stay with me this night too." Naomi asked, while she was hugging Yancy, who was sitting on the edge of the bed.
"You know, I would rather stay if I could, but tonight I can't. We have to get up very early tomorrow with Raleigh, because we take part in a special demonstration in the early morning hours. It's more advisable for me now to sleep in the Shatterdome. Rals will kill me if I late." The young ranger was answering reluctantly, while he was fondling his girlfriend's arm.
"Ok, I understand." Naomi responded disappointedly.
Standing at the door they exchanged a few words.
"Yancy, I don't know why, but I let you go with a heavy heart now."
"It's especially difficult for me to get off now, but don't worry we'll be together again soon. I love you Naomi."
"I love you too."
Finally, they kissed and hugged each other of farewell.
Some hours later, at 2:10 A.M. Naomi was awoken by the ring of her telephone.
"It's Naomi" She murmured in the cell phone sleepily.
"Hello Honey, it's Yancy. I'm so sorry for waking you up in such an impossible hour. But you know, I always call you before every deployment. Your voice brings me luck." Yance tried to joke.
"Heavens Yancy… Is it a Kaiju again?"
"Yes, the bogey was observed in the district of Anchorage, it's a category 3. But don't worry, Gipsy Danger is able to fight and win against a hurricane. I'll call you as soon as we came back from the deployment and I'll see you again soon. I love you. I have to go now." Yancy jabbered.
"I love you too. Take care and call as soon as you got back!" Naomi said goodbye on a worried tone of voice.
The Becket brothers didn't guess that they really would have been better if they fought a hurricane that night. Namely, the wind of the furious storm brought death. It's incarnated in the 8,700 metric tons and 96 m height Kaiju, called Knifehead.
During the fierce battle the beast killed Yancy and hurt Raleigh badly. After that Knifehead continued the ruthless assault and tried to tear Gipsy Danger to pieces.
Finally, Raleigh managed to kill the Kaiju. Despite this, Knifehead was able to destroy something forever: Naomi and Yancy's dream.
Naomi stopped settings the flowers. Until some moments she was gazing at the epitaph on the gravestone contemplatively, while she was fighting against her most painful memory, which was buried into the deepest place of her soul. Lastly, the torturing memory broke through the surface, against which Naomi was incapable to fight any more. Her eyes were filled with tears and she began sobbing. She leaned towards the grave entirely near and her forehead touched the gravestone. Her painful tears rolled over on her face and fell onto her lost love's burial-place.
"Yancy, like a ghost you live in my heart and your memory always haunts me. If only Romeo Blue hadn't lost Knifehead's trace that night. If only you hadn't fought against the Kaiju that night, you would still be alive. Yancy…" Naomi's sad whisper was suppressed by her tears and memories.
Naomi was awake through hours and waited Yancy's further call. Much as she feared for him, after a time her eyelids were too heavy and she fell into a slumber.
Never seen gloomy and grey clouds gathered on the sky of Anchorage by the morning, which covered the sun above the city for a long time. On that depressing morning the PPDC commissioner's call came. The man announced the terrible news to Naomi.
The girl couldn't grasp the tragedy the first time. After the call, she showed a leg and went to the kitchen to make a cup of coffee for herself. During that time, she brooded over the fact of Yancy's death.
"It must be a mistake or some joke. Gipsy Danger never loses. The Becket brothers never make a mistake. Yancy lives and he will call me shortly. Yancy lives. Yancy…" In that moment, Naomi grasped the commissioner's previous words. She dropped the tiny glass coffee pot from her hand, which when fell on the floor and broke into million pieces, like her heart. She tried to take a deep breathe but she felt like the oxygen couldn't get into her lungs and she would choke. The strength got out from her legs and she collapsed on the floor. She embraced her knees with her hands, she leaned her head in her lap and burst into loud hysteria.
Naomi didn't remember how long she laid on the floor in the kitchen and how she got into the hospital, because she totally lost the contact with the external world. She just sobbed and shouted about Yancy and the tragedy.
After Yancy's death weeks, months eventually years passed. Naomi's soul broke, she became sad and lonely.
Although Naomi was depressed, she was calming down slowly and her tears dried up gradually. When she looked around, she noticed wonderingly that the sun set and full darkness covered the sky. She shivered for the cool evening air and then she started speaking quietly:
"Life isn't a fairy tale. You and me know this really well. After many years, I realized that chasing the lost happiness is a vain hope, because every bullet has its billet. Instead of looking for happiness I dedicate my life to writing. I'll write the whole story of the PPDC, because the world has to know that the rangers are our hope, not the "Wall of life". But now I have to go. I love you. Bye Yancy." She smoothed the gravestone gently and left the cemetery rapidly.
Some weeks later, Naomi's article spread all over the whole world. Some months later, she published her first book about the Jaeger Program, the PPDC activity and the Kaiju War. Her life was filled in by writing. Finally, due to her successful works, she became a famous and an acknowledged author.
In the meantime, the Kaiju War ended too. However, neither the success nor the peace could bring real happiness for Naomi. Her life has never ever turned into as full and glad as in the times when Yancy lived yet.
Naomi visited her former love's burial place on Hawaii from time to time. Over time, she learned to endure the burden with dignity, which the fate inflicted upon her by Yancy's death. She accepted their tragic destiny and she was able to live together with the ghost in her heart, what she had never stopped loving.
