Author's Note: Uh...so for those of you who noticed, I had to re-post the prologue and first chapter because I needed to get the chapter titles to work, and ffnet has been experience bugs with that lately, so...please excuse the unintended effects of my workaround!

Anyway, here we go! Becket brothers from here on out! Enjoy! Just as a heads up, in here, I fabricate more history, facilities, facts about the Drift technology, etc. Just a heads up! Oh, and as always, reviews are loved!

Shoutout: To my very first reviewer for this story, Linzerj, thank you! Your words of encouragement made my first ever triple-chapter post for a fic possible! Also, just for you, I have inserted more Newt. Originally, I was going to have Mako introduce Raleigh to the new facility and whatnot, but decided to let the good doctor do the honors instead! Well, at first anyway, hahaha. Anyway, hope you like this chapter as much as the last!

II

"Raleigh? Doctor Newton Geiszler. Do you remember me? From the Jaeger Program? Listen, there's something I need to tell you..."

The only thing that could really attribute to Raleigh's decision to fly from one end of the country to the other and subject himself to countless security checkpoints was genuine curiosity. He had received the strange message from Dr. Geiszler that morning, a man he hadn't heard from in years since the end of the Kaiju War. The doctor hadn't divulged all of the little details in his voice mail, and Raleigh had taken his time in returning the call, unsure how he wanted to respond at first. The doctor wanted to meet in the nation's capital. He had mentioned something about reviving the Drift technology from the Jaegers. What Raleigh couldn't figure out was why. After all, the Kaiju War had been over for years, and as far as he knew, there were no new impending threats to address. He almost made the decision to ignore the call, but it was the last part of what the doctor said that bothered him.

"Let me ask you, do you ever hear a voice? Like...in your mind, but you think it sounds more like it's right in your ear? Kind of like when you were plugged into the Drift? If you do, can you recognize the voice? Is it distinct? Does it remind you of your brother, perhaps?"

Raleigh knew the doctor had probably been dealing with his own demons regarding a "voice," after all, the man had done the unthinkable and mind-melded with a Kaiju during the war. Raleigh was sure the man had experienced nightmares in his sleep, much like what he had been suffering every night since the war, though the doctor's dreams were probably of a different caliber of horror than his were, and that was something Raleigh didn't envy. It was enough to relive his older brother's dying moments almost every night, though there were the odd moments where he thought he heard his brother's disembodied voice chiding him, reminding him not to "chase the rabbit." That was usually when he'd wake up, go to his fridge, chug a can of beer, and then go back to a more merciful state of dreamless sleep.

"Look, when you can, could you please give me a call back? My number is..."

The doctor's message he could have ignored, if it weren't for the obvious sheer excitement that Raleigh could hear in the man's voice. The doctor had discovered something, and based on the message, it had something to do with the voice Raleigh felt was sometimes swimming around in his head, and that was the other thing. The doctor chose to say "voice," in the singular. He had even gone so far as to imply that the voice Raleigh was probably hearing was Yancy's. There was no way, Raleigh had reasoned, that the doctor would call him after all these years of silence seemingly out of the blue just to suggest that. Not unless he had found something. At least, Raleigh couldn't think of any other logical explanation for the other man's call. So after Raleigh had gotten up from his bed, had breakfast, performed his usual workout routine in his home's makeshift gym, and taken his shower afterward, Raleigh went ahead and called the doctor back while he got dressed in some halfway decent clothes and not his usual raggedy casual attire. Something told him he needed to be ready. Well, more like someone, but Raleigh never wanted to give the voice he heard more power than necessary. He didn't want to be a soldier who couldn't let go of his ghosts. He had seen the toll it had taken on Herc Hansen. They had met again once, years ago, just for old times sake and Raleigh had seen such a vacant look in the older man's eyes. Herc had told him he often had conversations with his son, that it was like the boy had never left, and by the end of the conversation there had been such a tense and awkward silence that had settled between them that Raleigh felt almost relieved when Herc said he thought it was probably best if he should leave. Admittedly, Raleigh had felt a little guilt; Herc had clearly reached out to him hoping that Raleigh would at least understand—losing a brother wasn't the same as losing a son, but it was still a matter of family. They hadn't contacted each other since.

Regrets from the past set aside, Raleigh unconsciously held his breath while he listened to the phone ring in his ear. The doctor picked up on the fourth ring.

"Raleigh!"

"Hey Doc," said Raleigh. "Long time. What's going on?"

"Yeah, it sure has. Listen, I'd love to tell you all that I've found here, but it might actually be better if you could fly over. You open to the idea of making a spontaneous trip to Washington?"

"State?"

"Hah! Wishful thinking, my friend!"

"Right, the capital, then," Raleigh said, rubbing a thumb against his forehead. "That makes more sense—should have thought of that first."

"Hey, I understand! If someone told me to suddenly drop everything and go meet them in another state, one could only hope it was just a drive away!" the doctor chuckled at his own lame and clearly one-sided joke. "Then again, come to think of it, that's exactly what happened to me!"

Raleigh frowned. "Uh...what?"

"Er...never mind!" Dr. Geiszler said quickly. "The point is, we need you here, Raleigh! Like I said in my message, I've got something you definitely want to see. Can you come?"

"I..."

"Yes?!"

"Sure..."

"Fantastic! What's your email? I'll send you everything you need—even pay for your airfare! Isn't that just generous of me? I mean, well, technically the government is paying for it, but—"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa..." Raleigh said, a frown forming on his face. "The government? What's this got to do with them?"

"Oops! Looks like I've said a little too much!" the doctor chuckled nervously. "Listen, kid. Let's just get you over here first and then we can get to the fine print, okay? Now what's your email?"

"It's just rbecket," said Raleigh. "At the PPDC address. It's still active."

"Ah, I forgot they made an allowance for that," said Dr. Geiszler. "I'm surprised you decided to continue its use. You still considered an active pilot then, I take it?"

"When they asked if I wanted to stay on board or retire, I just said what the hell," Raleigh answered honestly. "I've got nothing else really going for me anyway. Might as well leave my options open—I'll be the first to respond to any new threat in need of a Jaeger pilot."

"Very good. In fact, that's terrific news!"

"It is...?" Raleigh asked somewhat wearily; he wasn't sure how he felt about the doctor's enthusiastic tone.

"Yes! It is!" the doctor said excitedly. "It also explains a thing or two."

"It does...?"

"Yes siree! That's why the official heads here didn't seem to kick up too much of a fuss about footing the travel bill for one of their own. It really expedites the process, you know? Pack your bags, kid! I'll arrange a flight for you and send the information now. About how long would you say it takes for you to get to the nearest airport?"

"Uh...maybe an hour or two, give or take?"

"Great, well, it's probably more likely we'll be seeing each other tomorrow at any rate, but see you around, real soon!"

The doctor hung up before Raleigh could say or ask anything further, and seconds later his phone pinged with an alert that he had received an email. Raleigh checked it, and sure enough there were two emails; one containing a link to a ticket for his flight, and the other with instructions on what he needed to do once he landed in the nation's capital. The fact that the trip appeared to only be one-way was a detail that had not passed by him; Raleigh packed accordingly and went on his way.

Now, here he was, following two men dressed in black suits and wearing sunglasses down some long corridor of an underground facility that, prior to that day, Raleigh had never even been remotely aware of its existence. They walked him to an elevator, whereupon entry he noticed a set of seats very similar to something one would see at an amusement park. He looked in confusion at his two escorts who responded by wordlessly turning him around and strapping him into one of the seats before doing the same for themselves. Once they were all secured, the man to Raleigh's left hit a button and they were falling at an incredible speed before Raleigh had a chance to realize what was going on. Raleigh managed to unbuckle himself once the elevator came to a complete stop, and he stepped out the opened doors with his eyes squinted, trying to adjust to the sudden burst of light that assaulted his senses. He barely heard the doors close behind him and the sound of the elevator shoot back up the way he had come.

It took a minute for his eyes to adjust, but when they did, he let out a gasp of amazement. "Holy shit."

"I know! Totally blows your mind, doesn't it? I thought the same when they first told me what they did with all the old technology from the Jaeger Program."

The familiar voice of one crazed doctor brought Raleigh out of his reverie. He looked down at the smiling face of Dr. Geiszler.

"Welcome to our little secret base of operations...underground!" he said brightly. "It's good to see you again, Raleigh!"

"Uh, yeah..." said Raleigh, voice shaking a little as the doctor took one of his hands and shook it with great force up and down. "Good to see you too, Doc."

"Well, let's not waste any time!" Dr. Geiszler said, his voice chipper. "Right this way!"

"How the hell did they get all this down here?" Raleigh asked, unable to keep the awe out of his voice.

"Ah, good question, that one!" Dr. Geiszler responded. "One that I don't really have the answer to. See, they explained it all to me during my orientation, but really, I was only half-paying attention then. It was like a three-year long project or something, blah, blah, blah, I don't know! You'll have to ask Hermann. He was there too—he's better at remembering that sort of thing anyway."

"Er...right," said Raleigh. "So where are we going?"

"Now that, I can answer!" said the doctor. "At the moment, we are on our way to this base's weapons bay. One of the things I want to show you is in there."

"All right..."

"Patience, my boy! All your questions will be answered in due time!" said Dr. Geiszler. "In fact, here we are!"

They were stopped in front of a giant metal door. Raleigh waited while the doctor punched in a code into a keypad and almost rolled his eyes upon seeing that the doctor had to also swipe a card, give his thumbprint, and was additionally subjected to a retinal scan. No stranger to military protocol, Raleigh could respect extreme security measures, but sometimes he couldn't help but wonder how efficient it was to have them always in place, especially in times of major crisis, when the situation becomes so chaotic there's not really a lot of time to be swiping a card, punching a key code, and a whole song and dance number just to get to a weapon. To Raleigh, the whole thing sometimes seemed like unnecessary overkill.

The metal doors groaned open after the doctor had input all of his credentials. Raleigh followed the doctor into the room, and it took him a moment to realize what exactly he was looking at. He choked back the emotion welling up in his throat.

"Doctor...is that...Gispy?"

"Yes and no," said Dr. Geiszler. "The shell is indeed undoubtedly mirrored after the original Gipsy Danger. After all, we did refer back to old blueprints; however, you know as well as I that the first Gipsy Danger served its final mission detonating in the inter-dimensional rift. With no access to the portal or the world it opened up to, there was no way to salvage the actual remains of the original vessel."

Raleigh's jaw clenched. "Right. So aside from the design, this is a completely new Jaeger?"

"Again, you're both right and wrong," said the doctor. "On the one hand, yes, about ninety-five percent of it is completely new. There's a small percentage that was indeed part of the original."

Raleigh frowned. "What are you talking about? Which part?"

A familiar accented female voice answered him. "Several components from the Gipsy Danger's original Conn Pod."

Recognition lit up in Raleigh's eyes immediately upon seeing the Japanese woman who jumped down to their platform. "Mako..."

He received a nod of acknowledgement and a smile as Mako continued. "My father had commissioned for it to be removed and replaced when the changes were made to the Jaeger for our mission. It is now installed in this version of Gipsy Danger."

"Okay..." said Raleigh. "So how is that significant?"

"Well, it's significant because of what each Jaeger's Conn Pod contains," Dr. Geiszler interjected. "That Marshal Pentecost...brilliant man, that one! The rest of us were so busy trying to figure out how to solve the Kaiju problem, and meanwhile, he was concurrently working on another project all on his own! Hermann and I are calling his discovery 'Remnants.' From the Drift!"

Raleigh raised an eyebrow. "Remnants?"

"Allow me to explain," said Dr. Geiszler. "Remnants are one of many long-term side effects of Drifting. When pilots initiate a neural handshake, as you know, minds not only meld together, but they also meld with the computerized system of the Jaeger itself."

"Right...I follow so far," said Raleigh.

"Great! Now, as a former pilot, you are also aware of the concept of Ghost-Drifting, correct?" Dr. Geiszler asked.

Raleigh nodded. "Yeah. It wasn't that strong at first, but after Drifting with my brother for years, it got to a point where we were like the Psychic Twins—we could communicate regularly without words, even outside of the Drift."

"Exactly!" said Dr. Geiszler. "And here's the best part! You still can."

Raleigh frowned. "Come again?"

"It turns out, Marshal Pentecost discovered something about navigating the Drift," said Dr. Geiszler. "A part of you always gets left behind, but not just any part, a spiritual part. It's something mankind has only dreamed of up until now, and the late marshal was the first to discover the answer to the ultimate question! Is immortality achievable? And the answer is...ding-ding-ding! An all-resounding yes! Hah! Could you imagine how rich the man would be if he were still around today? Actually, come to think of it, even that might eventually have a chance in happening as well! The man was a genius, you hear me?! Genius! Or is a genius, perhaps I should say, since—"

"I don't mean to interrupt, but..." Raleigh said, confusion clearly evident in his expression. "Am I hearing you correctly? Immortality...? An implied second coming of the late marshal? Doctor...I'm not sure I understand what you're saying..."

"The Doctor is getting quite ahead of himself, but it's true," Mako answered coolly. "You hear him too, don't you? Your brother?"

"I...well, yeah," Raleigh said, his brows furrowing together. "Wait...Mako, are you saying you hear him too?"

"No," Mako said, shaking her head. "Perhaps if I piloted the Gipsy Danger with you longer, I would have; I only shared both your and his memories during our final mission. I kept nothing from after that."

"Then...what did you mean by 'you hear him too'?"

"She meant the voice," said Dr. Geiszler. "Do you hear a voice?"

"Yeah...I do, but you knew that already, didn't you, Doc?" Raleigh asked before looking back at Mako. "What kind of voice do you hear, then?"

Surprisingly, it was Hermann Gottlieb who answered his question. "Well isn't it obvious, Mister Becket? Marshal Pentecost's, of course."

Three pairs of eyes turned in the direction of another fellow who was leaning against his cane. The man limped over to them.

"Gottlieb..." Raleigh said with a small chuckle. "You're late to the reunion."

"Pardon my intrusion," Gottlieb said with a slight bow. "But I couldn't help myself—these two are proving themselves to be rather incompetent in explaining everything to you."

At this, Mako tried to stifle a smile as Dr. Geiszler bristled. "Why I—"

"Save it, Newt," Gottlieb said in his signature tone of boredom, holding up his free hand to stop the other man from speaking. "You have a tendency to explain things without providing context, resulting in total and utter confusion."

Mako laughed lightly and put a hand gently on Dr. Geiszler's back, pushing him in another direction. "Come, Doctor, let us leave them for now."

"I'll see you later?" Raleigh asked.

"Yes, later," Mako said with a nod.

Raleigh couldn't help but chuckle as his former one-time co-pilot led the now muttering Dr. Geiszler away. Gottlieb didn't even bother to keep from rolling his eyes.

"Ah well, he'll get over it," Gottlieb said drily.

"Oh, I wouldn't be so sure about that," Raleigh joked.

The two men shared a brief chuckle. Gottlieb turned to stare at the new Gipsy Danger, then looked at Raleigh from the corner of his eye.

"So," he said. "You have questions."

"I do," said Raleigh. "Do you have answers?"

The other man turned to him then. "I will answer them to the best of my ability. Ask away."

Raleigh took in a deep breath. "Okay, then first—what is so significant about having Gipsy Danger's old Conn Pod?"

"Ah, good question," Gottlieb said with a smile, nodding. "And probably the best one to start with, as it will help with answering the rest of what you're most likely pondering."

His body leaned heavily against his cane and used his free hand to point in the general direction of the Conn Pod's location. "Each and every Jaeger that's ever been built has a Conn Pod—the epicenter of all Drifting activities that occur within the machine."

"Right, that much I understand," said Raleigh.

"Think of the Conn Pod as one giant computer with a stationary hard drive," said Gottlieb. "And the human brain as an external hard drive that can both accept and transfer data."

"Okay..."

"Each time a pilot enters the Drift, a copy of all past memories are given to the co-pilot as well as to the Conn Pod," said Gottlieb. "Live moments, as you know, are translated instantly into memories by the brain, and those are copied to both places as well."

"And the telepathic connection?"

"That's what makes the whole thing so interesting. There wasn't much we understood about Ghost-Drifting at first, except for scientific discovery that pilots assigned to the same craft were over time able to communicate even outside of the Drift, and it was proven beyond a doubt that the side effect was indeed not schizophrenic in nature. On the contrary, we had discovered a welcome benefit to prolonged Drifting, and only encouraged it to happen more."

"Yeah, it was pretty cool," said Raleigh. "Especially when I needed to talk to my brother without anyone else knowing. No one else had access to our link, so it was perfect for private conversation whenever we needed it."

"Is it safe to say that you still maintain it? This...back-line of sorts, I suppose you could call it?"

Raleigh frowned at the question. "What are you getting at? You trying to tell me it's possible my brother is still alive, or something like that? 'Cos that's the only way it would explain why the connection is considered active, and not..."

"You going insane?" Gottlieb supplied.

"Well, yeah..." Raleigh said, letting out a sigh. "I mean, I hear him sometimes, my brother, or at least...I used to. Then when I realized I was starting to lose my marbles a little bit, I put a stop to it completely. Shut the voice out."

"And if I were to tell you otherwise?" asked Gottlieb. "That in fact, the opposite is true—the voice is still very much your living brother?"

"Then that's just crazy talk," Raleigh said angrily, his expression dark. "If that's all you've all brought me here for, then this has just been a complete waste of time, not to mention hurtful. Bringing back the dead is impossible, Gottlieb. And to try and sell me false hope thinking I'm naïve enough to buy it? Now that's sick."

"But weren't you listening, Mister Becket? This isn't a mere hypothesis we're talking about here," said Gottlieb. "It is a theory that's been thoroughly tested. In fact, we've got proof that it's a sure fact. Dedicated the whole last year to our research, we did, until we were completely one-hundred percent certain. Miss Mori would not have asked for us to contact you otherwise. She knows how much this would mean to you, if true—and I assure you, it is."

"I..." Raleigh trailed off uncertainly, taking an unconscious and defensive step back from Gottlieb.

Gottlieb gave him a thin smile. "I understand that this is probably a lot to take in, but allow me to provide you with further details. You've heard the saying, haven't you? They're usually the choice last words of the dying. That they'll always be with you? Even if not physically, but here, in the heart?"

He patted his chest to emphasize his point. Raleigh nodded.

"What does that have to do with anything?" the blonde asked warily.

"Ah, but Mister Becket, it has everything to do with it," said Gottlieb. "This is what Newt was trying to tell you regarding the Remnants. To better explain them, let's revisit what I was saying earlier about the human brain and Jaeger Conn Pod being hard drives."

"All right..."

"When Jaeger pilots connect to the Conn, and the neural handshake is established, the memories are not only transferred between brains, they are also stored in the Conn. Permanently."

Gottlieb waited for a moment to allow this bit of information to sink in. He continued when Raleigh showed no real sign of outward response aside from his brows furrowing close together. The older man sighed.

"The interesting thing that the late marshal apparently discovered, however, was that the Conn stores more than just data—more than just memories."

Raleigh shook his head slowly, his face still tight with a frown. "Forgive me, Gottlieb. I'm afraid I still don't understand at all what it is you're saying..."

"What do we know about death, Mister Becket?" said Gottlieb. "Is it when a person's heart stops? No. There's still always that chance we can bring a person back to life. When a person stops breathing then? Again, no. We have machines that can do all the work for you. So then, what is it? Where do we draw the line? When? How do we know when a person is dead?"

"When the brain no longer functions?" Raleigh asked.

"Hah! Well, you've got half of it," said Gottlieb. "Science dictates that when a person's brain ceases to show neurological activity—when it flat lines—then that person is considered dead, but even then, there's still a tiny window where a patient could be brought back to life by electrical shocks."

"So then how are we supposed to know?" Raleigh asked. "What's the measure?"

"This is where we get into what some people might consider the religious," said Gottlieb. "We're talking in spiritual terms here now, Mister Becket."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," said Raleigh. "All right, wait a second. Let me see if I'm hearing this right. You're telling me there's such a thing as ghosts now, or something like that?"

"Ghosts? Yes," said Gottlieb. "In the sense that what remains—hence the term Newt and I coined together—Remnants of former Jaeger pilots contained in a vessel's Conn Pod only has memories up until their physical body was disconnected from the Conn. Anything after that, it would only be able to obtain only the next time the neural handshake is reestablished, or if the piece of spirit trapped within the Conn Pod goes from passive to active."

"Passive?" Raleigh asked, suddenly only able to express his thoughts in the form of one-worded questions. "Active? Spirits?"

"Turns out, there is some weight to the idea that the human body is merely just another vessel for the spirit, which is actually what makes the vehicle run, if you will," said Gottlieb. "A person does not truly move on to the next life—or the afterlife, if you prefer that term—until his or her spirit is completely snuffed out; extinguished. Now, in a time before Jaegers, there was no conceivable way to avoid this inevitable reality."

"And now...?" Raleigh asked warily, now vaguely recalling what Dr. Geiszler was saying earlier about the late Marshal Pentecost discovering a means of achieving immortality. "Are you saying a loophole to that has been found?"

"Precisely," Gottlieb said with a nod. "The Conn Pod saves some of an individual's spirit, but they don't save a copy of it. We're still not sure how it manages to do this, but it breaks a piece of the spirit off and saves it. So, for example, when your brother was killed in combat, whatever of his spirit was still trapped in his body had nowhere to go, and therefore died with the physical vessel. The part of your brother that the Conn preserved, on the other hand..."

"Went from playing a 'passive' role to an 'active' one," Raleigh finished for him, his jaw dropped and eyes widened as he realized that he might actually understand what Gottlieb had meant by those terms earlier. "You're saying that while I'm alive, the spirit piece, or whatever it is you call that—"

"Remnant," Gottlieb offered helpfully.

"Yes, Remnant," Raleigh said, shaking his head. "Whatever. Anyway, you're saying that so long as I'm alive, then the Remnant that the Conn has apparently taken from me without my knowledge, just sits there until I die? After which, the Remnant version of me 'wakes up,' in a sense, and basically picks up where I left off, sort of?"

"That's pretty much it, yes," Gottlieb said, nodding. "I think you've got it."

"Okay, then here's my next question," said Raleigh. "Assuming there is an afterlife, and further assuming one doesn't get to go unless all parts of a person's 'spirit' is 'extinguished,' as you said, from this life...then how come if a person dies physically, any memory of that doesn't do something like 'meet' with the Remnant that's been dormant inside a Jaeger's Conn Pod?"

"Ah, a very good question!" Gottlieb said, eyes brightening. "And fortunately for you, not one we didn't think to look into further. Allow me to explain."

"Please," Raleigh said, nodding.

"We also thought it was strange, well, Newt thought it was strange—I suppose I'd rather credit only him for that idiocy," Gottlieb muttered, somewhat to himself. "—that the rest of the human spirit didn't gravitate toward the Remnant, like a planet to its sun, postmortem. I, on the other hand, theorized that perhaps this was because an individual's spirit is actually trapped in whatever vessel it decides to call home. In this case, either the human body or a Jaeger's Conn Pod. Even if a spirit knew how to 'find' the rest of itself, it would be unable to do so unless it could somehow be extracted from its physical vessel like during the neural handshake process in the Conn."

"And you were able to confirm that?" Raleigh asked incredulously.

"Yes," said Gottlieb. "With the help of Marshal Pentecost and Miss Mako as his translator."

"I can't even wrap my head around that," Raleigh said, shaking his head. "You're talking about him like he's still alive."

"That's because he very much is," said Gottlieb. "Though perhaps not currently to a standard that Miss Mako would like, though to some consolation, the discovery has caused her to become much happier than she had previously been in the years prior to this finding. Newt is actually looking into ways to legitimately remedy this problem, but that's a completely different discussion that I'd much rather leave for another day."

"I'm going to have to agree with you on that," Raleigh said somewhat sardonically. "I don't even want to think about what other totally absurd-sounding concepts I'm going to have to understand there. Next thing you know, you'll be telling me we have finally found a way to clone people with a standard human lifespan, and we can use what's been learned about the Drift and Conn Pods storing spirits to somehow give a person a second chance at living. I mean, can you think of the societal shitstorm news of a discovery like that would cause? People all over will be scrambling for a chance at using that type of technology. It defies logic. Hell, it defies God. Cancer patients could decide to clock out early just to start all over again. Criminals could forge a new identity for themselves, to maintain the anonymity to kill more or the chance to be a better person, if they had it in them to want to be. Celebrities will have found their fountain of youth! I mean, geezus! The possibilities would be endless!"

Gottlieb responded to the blonde's tirade with an ironic smile. Raleigh frowned.

"You're a lot smarter than I initially took you for," Gottlieb said, amusement evident in his tone.

The blonde's frown deepened in its intensity. "Oh no...no, no. Don't. Don't even go there. I don't think I even want to know."

"And I promised we wouldn't, didn't I?" Gottlieb said innocently. "At least it's not a topic of conversation we will be covering today."

Raleigh groaned. "All right, look. Suppose you're not pulling my leg, and suppose all of what you're telling me is actually completely true, as you say. Then explain to me this—how exactly is it my brother and I can still even pull off a telepathic connection?"

"Well, you're both still alive, aren't you?" Gottlieb countered smoothly. "Technically speaking. And the both of your spirits are still 'trapped' in physical vessels, although one of you is decidedly not human. Aside from that glaring detail, the rest of your circumstances have otherwise remained unchanged."

"Okay, fair enough," said Raleigh. "But then how do you explain the fact that only I have access to him? And if he's not simply just a figment of my imagination and really still a thinking, feeling, independent being...then how is it I have been able to completely block his voice out, hm? How do you explain that?"

"Well, it's really no different from how a relationship works at our level now, is it? When best friends or family members fight, don't we sometimes give each other the cold shoulder? Don't some of us excommunicate our family members for years? It's pretty much the same kind of concept," said Gottlieb. "As for how it could be that only you have the ability to see and communicate with your brother, well, that should be obvious, shouldn't it? You two have established a relationship built on years of neurological bonding as a strong and solid foundation. It made you one of our most effective, and consequently, widely acknowledged as our very best Jaeger team."

Raleigh folded his arms over his chest. "This is total bullshit."

Gottlieb sighed. "Well, I suppose sometimes there really is only one way to prove things to a skeptic, isn't there?"

Raleigh shook his head. "I don't know what you mean."

"Mister Becket..." said Gottlieb. "How do you feel about seeing whether or not things are true for yourself, hm? Experience it all, firsthand? How about a nice little reunion with your older brother?"

"I..." Raleigh trailed off with a frown; he asked Gottlieb, despite himself. "How?"

"Come," Gottlieb said, motioning for the blonde to follow him.

"Where?" Raleigh asked, though he started following the limping man anyway.

"Why, up to where you can enter Gipsy Danger's Conn Pod, of course!" said Gottlieb. "So you can enter the Drift. How else were you planning on testing things for yourself?"

Raleigh shook his head. Supposing that Gottlieb's logic was sound, then the man had a point, and Raleigh didn't have an answer or an alternative to give.

A/N: Okay, so here's what I'm thinking. Next chapter could either be a Raleigh-centered flashback, a Mako and spirit of Pentecost flashback, or a warm and fuzzy—maybe even quite possibly tear-inducing—Becket brothers reunion? I'll let you readers decide. Of course, if I don't receive any feedback, then y'all will just have to accept whichever one it is I decide to do, hahaha. Is anyone even remotely interested in a flashback piece? Or would you prefer I just get right down to the point, and will probably lead to a fast track to the ending—this was originally supposed to be a oneshot after all, so don't be too surprised at how quickly this is ending—or at least be a chapter leading to the ending. If you have an opinion and would like it to be heard, now is the time! Vote now in the reviews! Well then, until next chapter, see you all around!