Author's Notes: Dear readers, my deepest apologies for such a long wait. This may not have been the worst six-month period of my entire life...but it was probably among the worst, and I had to take a mental health hiatus from writing. Now that things are better, I'm hoping to resume regular updates.
Canon Note: This fic draws from some very extended canon comments by Guillermo del Toro and Travis Beacham that Mako's father's family didn't like her mother and were very unhappy when the marriage only produced a daughter, and ultimately none of them adopted her after she was orphaned.
Chapter Sixteen: Those Left Behind
Hong Kong Shatterdome…
Raleigh was not expecting Chuck and Herc to seek him out first out of all the things they might've done after that drift. "Where's Mako?" asked Herc.
"In Typhoon's Bay – on her way here, now," Raleigh corrected. "What's going on?"
The Hansens looked at each other, then Herc said, "She oughtta be here for this."
Raleigh considered what everyone knew Herc and Chuck had been up to in the pons lab. "Found something?"
"Sort of." Chuck was clutching a cardboard box in his hand, not making eye contact with anyone.
When Mako arrived, Jake was with her. Oddly enough, Jake was the one Chuck managed to look at. "Hey…no offense, you mind if we…talk alone?"
Mako blinked, but Jake shrugged, and at her nod, he left again. Chuck looked mutely at his father as if unable to come up with what he was supposed to say. Since Pitfall, he'd looked older than his age. Now, for the first time, it really reminded Raleigh that Chuck Hansen was only 22.
From what they both knew of Herc, he'd have insisted Chuck do whatever he wanted to do himself. Instead, also avoiding their eyes, Herc explained quietly, "After…Knifehead, Tendo and some of the other crew divided up…some keepsakes, I guess. For all your friends."
Mako's hand clutched Raleigh's arm, but he managed not to flinch. "I – good. Good, I'm glad. How'd…" It wasn't as if he'd known Chuck back then.
Chuck finally found his voice. "After we lost Devi and Suze…Indra…gave me this. Didn't realize…till today…this is yours."
He opened the box and held it out.
Reality fractured at the sight of that old, beat-up chess set, the pieces lined up so neatly in their magnetic pockets along the sides, the scuffs and gouges from being carried in suitcases and duffels for…how long?
Yancy… He'd found it in a little game shop in a Beijing Mall when he was nine. All their board games tended to lose pieces and parts every trip. Not this one, though. It'd stayed intact and went with them for every posting after they made Ranger Ready.
It'd never occurred to Raleigh to take it with him after Knifehead.
He tried to say something, but his voice didn't work. Mako asked softly, "How?"
"Tendo," Herc repeated patiently. "He knew you and the Hassans used to play, so he gave them your set. After...after Devi and Susanti...Indra gave it to Chuck. They used to play him."
I remember something...Suze said Devi was teaching chess to one of the Dome kids. Chuck would've been...a kid then. Too young to pilot. Chuck held the chess set out, and Raleigh took it in trembling hands.
"Didn't realize," Chuck muttered. "Not 'till I saw it in Marshal's memories. He remembered you and your brother playing."
Marshal Pentecost used to look relieved when he saw Raleigh and Yancy at a work table or a pile of boxes with that chess set; it meant they weren't getting into trouble. Crew who didn't play were always baffled by the profanity that would explode from one or both Beckets amid such a quiet, intellectual game.
When we ghosted that night in Lima, we spent the rest of the night playing chess. It was all draws, all night. We could handicap him or handicap me and we still always ended up in a draw.
After hard combat, they'd curled up together in their bunks or infirmary beds with the game balanced between them. The pieces didn't slide off thanks to the magnetic board. They'd fallen asleep mid-game sometimes.
"Thank you." He had to whisper it; there was no trusting his voice. It felt so familiar. For a second, he could almost imagine the hands that gave it to him where his brother's.
There were other things he should say. I'm glad they had it. Glad they played with you. Glad Indra gave it to you after they...died...
Six pilots had played chess on this set. Now Raleigh Becket and Chuck Hansen were the only ones left.
It's not fair.
To his surprise, Chuck was mustering up something else too. "We...my dad and me, we're going back to Australia. Not for long. To see Indra and...their family."
Devi and Suze? Herc nodded. "You oughtta come with us. Indra'd be glad to see you."
Would he really? After Raleigh had disappeared?
Did he knew Devi and Susanti had found Raleigh in Mexico? Did he know they'd said it wasn't goodbye, but that it had been?
"They understood," said Chuck. Raleigh stared. "They always did. Indra too. Even when I didn't, they did." He jerked his head towards Herc. "Ask him. I was in Academy. They talked to him."
So he was there for them while I was wallowing like the only person on Earth who lost Yancy -
"Stop that!" Mako exploded. Both Herc and Chuck jumped. She blushed, but rallied herself and asked them politely, "Please excuse us," then bodily hauled Raleigh for the nearest empty room. "Stop doing that to yourself! Yancy would be furious if he knew it and you would be furious if Yancy or I were the ones!"
Raleigh cringed and looked away. Of course she was right. The only person who'd ever really taken that attitude other than Raleigh himself was – Chuck, before. Before Pitfall, before everything changed. That chess set in Raleigh's hands was proof of just how much had changed.
Mako started to pull the pieces out and put them into place, but Raleigh stopped her. She didn't like chess; she and Jake never had, even though Sensei and Tamsin did. She'd be playing through Raleigh's memories and Yancy's ghost. Raleigh wasn't up for that.
So she led him back to her room and they curled up on her bed together, Raleigh still clutching the set to his chest, Mako stroking his hair.
Why did it still feel like this? The war was over, the truth was out - he'd even had the chance to say goodbye...sort-of. Mako was here. He wasn't alone.
Why did it feel like some of those moments back at the Wall, when exercise didn't help anymore and Raleigh would just lie helpless in his bunk, unable to move from the weight of it, wanting his brother so badly it was crushing him and he couldn't breathe...
Mako murmured into his ear. "You're allowed to miss him, love. Always. Just breathe. I'm here. He's here too. We've got you."
Half of him wanted to shout, It's not enough! I want him HERE, all of him, not just a drift ghost, I want my brother! I need my brother! The other half of him hated himself for being so selfish.
"You're not selfish." She was so certain, it was hard not to believe her. "He's your brother. You were his co-pilot. I never wanted to replace him. I know I couldn't if I wanted to, and I don't. You don't need to forget him. No one has a right to say you can't mourn."
He told me to stop.
"Because he loves you and doesn't want you to be in pain, you American oaf!" she exclaimed, and he had to laugh as she flicked his ear. "You'd do the same, even though you both know it'd be unrealistic." She pulled him closer until they were wound around each other and murmured, "Sensei raised me for nearly as long as I lived with my parents, but I've never stopped missing them. He understood that. So did Jake - well, not always, at first."
He pressed kisses to her neck and felt the near-panic and pain finally starting to lose its grip.
You're not alone.
For the next few hours, they distracted each other completely from anything other than the present. Nobody came knocking on their door.
At last, lying further apart to cool off, Mako brushed a hand through his sweaty hair. "We should go with Chuck and Marshal Hansen to Australia. You should visit Indra Hassan and their family. I know how close you were."
Raleigh gazed at her, less anxious about the idea than before. "What about you? You wanted to go back to Tangeshima."
"I still do. We can do that after." She propped herself up on her elbow, and Raleigh trailed a lazy hand along her hip and waist. If they weren't both still so overheated, he'd have more for her. She smirked at him, but went on, refusing to let him distract her again. "I want Jake to come with us to Tangeshima. He wants to see where I was born. Where my parents lived."
"Do you think your family'll…" accept you? Have the decency to apologize? He couldn't figure out how to word it, so he just let her draw the conclusion.
"I don't know. I've wondered that for years."
It'd take some incredible gall for them to give you grief after Pitfall, he thought sourly.
"Maybe, but they had no qualms about turning me out of my father's house after my parents were killed. Who knows." She shrugged. "If I'm not wanted, then I won't stay long. But I have a right to see my own home."
Cheung and Jin didn't ask what Team Gipsy and Team Striker wanted in Australia. Jake, to everyone's surprise except Mako's, suggested, "I reckon I should stay at the Shatterdome and study for the entrance exams, if that's okay."
That surprised the Weis, but they were happy to extend family privileges to Jake Pentecost even while Mako wasn't around. Raleigh gave in to curiosity and asked, "You don't want to come?"
Jake shrugged. "I kind of do, but this part's…who you're going to see, it's not really for Mako. She's going to be there for you. I'd be rude to try and get her attention. I'll go with you when you go to Japan, for her."
Raleigh smiled. Quite a kid Pentecost raised. His manners reminded Jake half of Pentecost, half of Mako. Raleigh wondered what Jake's mother had been like, or those grandparents Mako had such lingering ill feelings for.
"Indra and Devi and Suze's parents are in Coober Pedy," Herc told them. "We'll go there first if you like. After, Chuck and I are visiting some of our…old crew."
Raleigh and Mako both got the feeling they were being asked not to join that leg of the trip. "That's fine," said Mako.
Coober Pedy, Australia...
At one point on the flight to Australia, Mako asked Herc, "Is yours as nervous as mine?"
Herc couldn't help a rueful smile. "I doubt mine is less nervous. The last time he saw Indra Hassan was the day after he shot his mouth off in Sydney."
She frowned. "But Indra gave him the chess set. Surely he wouldn't have done that if he was...that angry about it."
Herc started to answer, but caught himself. No, but of all people in the world, the Hassans were the ones whose opinions mattered to him the most, and that wasn't the first time he'd shit on other pilots. Chuck wouldn't want him saying things like that, not even to Mako. Maybe especially not to Mako.
So Herc said nothing else, and Mako gave him a keen, Stacker-like look that said she knew what he wasn't saying. Hell, the Hassans had adored Raleigh and Yancy, and Herc had never seen or heard any indication it wasn't mutual. Maybe Raleigh and Chuck really were feeling the same about seeing Indra again.
In a weird way, they did look a little similar, forcing themselves to keep pace with their partners on the walk up to the house in Coober Pedy.
Raleigh looked young again, but uncertain in a way Herc couldn't ever recall, and for the first time, Chuck was starting to look his own age again. Out of all the ways the boys would react to reuniting with Indra Hassan, Herc hadn't expected this. Maybe I should have.
The door flew open before anyone could reach it, and Herc felt Chuck hold his breath. But the figure who burst out onto the terrace wasn't Indra - too small and slight. Judging by Raleigh's gasp, he'd never met the Hassans' parents. Either that or he'd forgotten just how much their mother resembled Susanti. Mrs. Hassan caught Chuck in a tackle of an embrace, arms around his neck, sending him stumbling back in shock.
The girls' father followed, tears in his eyes as Chuck stammered, and next came Indra, who started towards Chuck and Herc - then spotted Raleigh Becket and stopped in his tracks. "Rals?" he whispered.
One hand on Herc's shoulder, Devi and Suze's father paused and turned to look in surprise at the two strangers, fixating on Raleigh. "Hey, Indra," Raleigh said weakly.
"Oh my God, kiddo..." Indra closed the space between them in two strides and hugged Raleigh as fiercely as his aunt was still holding onto Chuck. Herc felt a pang of envy through the ghost drift.
But even though there was no way Indra Hassan could've caught Chuck's reaction, he held out a hand sideways. "Boyo - c'mere, God, we thought we'd lost all of you."
Devi and Susanti's mother released Chuck, and he hesitantly approached Indra only to be yanked into an embrace no less fierce than the one Raleigh was still caught in. Indra wasn't that big; Herc was baffled as to how the guy could hang onto two men the size of Chuck and Raleigh at the same time, but Indra was managing it.
But that left the elder Hassans without a distraction, and their eyes inevitably turned to Herc. He held out a hand, but their father ignored it in favor of seizing his shoulders, eyes full of tears, and Herc's throat tightened in reaction.
Behind Herc, Max barked, and Indra released the boys with a grin. "Hey, Max! Been a long time!" Max needed no urging to rush into Indra's arms, and he grinned up at Chuck. Herc could feel the tremor behind Chuck's smile.
It hadn't been that long. Less than six months since Chuck and Indra had said goodbye in Sydney.
Chuck was pretty good at hiding his feelings. Then again, Indra Hassan was among those who knew him far better than most. He looked up from Max and frowned. "What's wrong, boyo?"
Mako sensed the tension and tugged Raleigh away as a few of the Hassans' extended family came out to meet them. So they were out of earshot - or at least pretending to be - when Chuck looked Indra in the eye and said, "I'm sorry."
Indra looked genuinely puzzled. "What for?"
"Sydney. What I said...after."
It was only a second before Indra connected the dots, and judging by their expressions, Devi and Suze's parents did too. They all hesitated, and Herc could feel Chuck holding his breath.
Their father spoke up first. "We know you didn't mean it."
Chuck swallowed hard. "I didn't, I swear."
Indra looked down, but said slowly, "That last year was hell. We all know that. Everyone was losing it, one way or the other. You weren't the only one who ever shot off your mouth."
"It was still a shitty thing to say," Chuck mumbled. "I - I thought you - "
He caught himself, but now Indra looked up, startled. "What? What'd you think?"
Chuck couldn't meet his eyes anymore, but forced himself to explain, "Why you didn't - y'know - go to Hong Kong..."
Devi and Suze's mother made a choked noise, and the stricken look on Indra's face dispelled that idea, to Herc (and Chuck's) intense relief. "Aw, shit. That's what you thought?" He straightened and seized Chuck's shoulders. "You listen to me, boyo. I've known you and your moods since you were thirteen. Nothing you said would've made me turn my back on you, understand?"
Disarmed completely, Chuck nodded. Then Devi and Suze's father nudged Indra lightly. "Tell him the rest."
Indra sighed and finished, "There was only going to be one LOCCENT chief for the mission. And I...figured it was a suicide mission. Tendo was willing, and I just...couldn't do it again." Chuck didn't even resist when Indra pulled him in for another hug. "You meant too much to me. The world was ending, and I couldn't watch the last of you die, not you. I was..." He squeezed his eyes shut and trailed off.
Herc dared to step closer. "What?" he asked quietly.
It was Devi and Susanti's mother who finally spoke. "We never thought, until then...it was better they're gone." It went through Herc like a K-Stunner, and Chuck actually sobbed. "Seeing you go to your death would have destroyed them both."
There was a low noise from behind them - probably Raleigh, but Herc couldn't turn around. Of course, they were right. He'd known Devi and Suze too well to doubt it. The Hassans had adored Chuck; they'd been Herc's friends, among the closest ever, but they'd loved Herc's kid on another level.
If they'd still been here, they'd have brought Vulcan to Pitfall. But that doesn't mean they'd have survived. Look at the fate of Hu Wei and Stacker Pentecost, of Cherno, Typhoon, Striker, and Gipsy. The odds of Devi and Susanti surviving both Victoria Harbor and Operation Pitfall would've been weak at best, even with their skills. They'd have been no more able to watch Striker and his pilots die than Herc and Chuck had been to watch Cherno and Typhoon go down.
And they hadn't even known about Gipsy Danger. To see Raleigh return only to plunge into the Breach...but they could've lived to see this: both of them still alive.
Would they have made it?
Indra finally got himself under control and said, "We all said shit we didn't mean that last year. The world was ending. I forgave you for it before you even got back to the Dome."
Herc forced his own emotions under control and smiled. "Does that mean you'd consider coming back to Hong Kong with us?"
Indra looked thoughtful, and his aunt and uncle grinned. Then he saw the hopeful look on Chuck and Raleigh's faces, and he grinned. "I think I might."
"Good," Raleigh said. "It's not the Jaeger Program without a Hassan."
Alice Springs, Australia...
Chuck had a feeling the next family he met wouldn't be so forgiving. But he'd made up his mind, so he didn't falter walking up to the row house in Alice Springs where Greg Oliver had taken his family after Tacit Ronin fell.
Someone either tipped them off or saw Herc and Chuck from the window, because Greg Oliver came out to meet them. Chuck gulped but made himself keep walking.
Greg threw his arms around Herc in an unrestrained bear hug that Herc returned just as fiercely. "How are you, mate?" Herc asked.
"Better than six months ago, what with the world not ending." Greg let Herc go, but to Chuck's shock, he sidestepped and seized Chuck. Chuck hesitantly returned the embrace. Greg must've caught on and let him go, grinning sheepishly. "Sorry, boyo. It's just bloody great to see you." He considered Chuck. "How've you been?"
His throat got humiliatingly tight, and Chuck shrugged. I miss him - I'm sorry - I should've - I didn't - I need to...
But Greg went on, "I didn't think I'd ever see you again," in a rough mutter. Dazed, Chuck almost asked why Greg Oliver would've wanted to, but a mental tug through the ghost drift stopped him. Greg leaned back and saw the shock on Chuck's face. "What?"
"You…" Dad, a little help?
"We, ah, just came from the Hassans'," Herc tried to fudge. "Was a bit overwhelming."
Movement behind Greg caught Chuck's eye, and he saw Greg's wife on the stoop, and a girl who looked a little familiar… Oh, hell, that's Emma. Danny's little sister. She was still a tween in Chuck's memory, but she'd been well into her teens when Danny died. For the first time, she looked it.
She'd been the youngest of three in Sydney. Then Greg's oldest daughter, Karina, had died of radiation poisoning after two weeks of rescue missions into the ruins from the nuclear blast that had killed Greg's parents and siblings. Emma had experienced childhood in Sydney Shatterdome. That childhood had probably ended altogether with back in February when Nocnitsa destroyed Tacit Ronin, taking both Danny and his partner Evie Nakano's lives off Wakkanai, Japan.
Greg's wife came down to meet them, and Chuck blurted, "I'm sorry." Why didn't I say it before? I should've at least said it before you left after Danny died. Or had word of Chuck's ranting and raving got back to them? Obviously not, because Danny's mum hugged him. He couldn't imagine either of them of them hugging him if they'd known he'd called Danny and Evie stupid within hours of their deaths. "He was my friend. I'm sorry I didn't…"
"I know, love, it's all right," said Danny's mum, without letting Chuck go.
"I thought he was just a 'mediocre pilot, simple as that,'" said a cold voice.
Chuck flinched hard. "Emma!" snapped Danny's mum.
"What? His words, not mine!" She scowled down at Chuck from the steps, and it was like looking back in time – into a mirror. Never mind that Emma was a girl. Chuck knew that look. He'd worn it on his own face for years. Emma Oliver turned on her heel and stalked into the house.
Greg sighed, and his wife muttered, "She'll apologize," but when she started after her wayward daughter, Chuck caught her arm.
"No, it's okay. She doesn't have to." Danny's parents stared at him, and he swallowed hard. "She's…she's right. I'mt he one who said that. It was a…I never should…I didn't mean it," he finished weakly. Didn't mean any of it. I thought I did, but I didn't. Anyone who heard me would've thought I meant it, but I didn't. "But I still said it."
Greg blinked, and his wife turned away. Chuck braced himself for recriminations – and so, he was wholly unprepared to hear Greg stifle a sob. Herc wavered, unsure of whether to try to comfort Greg or not. It was Danny's mum who managed to speak first. "Love…you weren't the only one who said ugly things those last months."
Chuck shrugged, trying to keep his own emotions under control, like a dam had broken at hearing Danny's parents cry. "I'm…still sorry."
"Yeah, we got that part." Greg joked. "We're saying we forgive you, son. Our boy would've wanted that, and Danny was a lot like you, especially…toward the end. He was lucky no cameras ever caught him. We couldn't turn on you any more than we could his memory."
They insisted Chuck and Herc stay for lunch. Chuck noticed with a pang that unlike Indra, Greg didn't broach any idea of returning to Shatterdome life. Emma Oliver left the house rather than be forced to sit at a table with Chuck.
Even without Emma there glaring holes in Chuck's forehead, it was an awkward meal because none of them could bring themselves to talk about the reincarnation of the Jaeger Program, or Herc and Chuck's assignment as the reincarnated Crimson Typhoon. That gave Herc a lot of pangs; he'd never had an awkward conversation with Greg Oliver before.
Lunch was winding up when they finally started talking about the work the Olivers were doing, building infrastructure and getting other refugee families from the coast settled. It seemed a lot of people still weren't ready to live in sight of the ocean.
Chuck saw Emma outside, sitting on the wall in front of the houses. He mumbled an excuse and left to try and talk to her again.
She heard him coming but didn't turn around. When he sat on the wall next to her, she said, "I don't recall inviting you to join me."
"Sorry," Chuck said, but he didn't leave.
After a long, awkward silence, it was clear Emma wasn't going to do anything else to break it, so Chuck mustered his scattered thoughts. "He was my friend."
Emma snorted. "When?"
"At…Academy. We tested compatible, and…everything changed. Then after. Until…"
"Until he died, and you shit all over him and the others," Emma finished. Chuck knew it was coming this time, so he managed not to flinch again.
"I didn't mean it. I'm sorry. I didn't mean any of it."
Emma finally looked him in the eye, and he braced himself. "You think that makes it all right?"
Chuck shook his head. "I know it doesn't. I just wanted to say it anyway."
That surprised her, judging by the way she looked down. Swinging her feet irritably against the wall, she muttered, "Pentecost really must've been something, to make you finally grow up."
It was a few seconds of struggling to get his breath before he could answer her. "Yeah, he was." "You're an egotistical jerk with daddy issues…But you're your father's son. So we'll drift just fine."
And somehow, we did.
"Did you know Mum's mum had a problem with Danny being gay?" Emma suddenly asked. Chuck stiffened, and she rolled her eyes. "There he was, second-youngest active Ranger in history, and Gran lecturing him every chance she got that he should do 'the proper, decent thing' and marry Evie." She fixed him with a piercing stare. "The rest of us had no problem with it, but the only time Danny yelled back was when Mum said he could do better than you." It hit Chuck like a fist to the gut, what she was getting at. "That's how we knew it wasn't just a Ranger-on-Ranger booty call."
…Danny? To Chuck's complete mortification, his throat closed. He had to look away, but saw the triumph in her eyes before he did. Danny'd been handsome. He'd never lacked for partners. …so why was it he'd nearly always picked Chuck when they were at the same post?
However vindictive Emma was feeling, she wouldn't make things up about her brother just to get at Chuck. And it all made too much sense. Too much horrible sense. "I didn't know," he muttered hoarsely.
"Yeah, we all noticed. You never noticed anything that wasn't about you."
He almost argued. Then he stopped himself. "'m sorry."
"Good. Mum and Dad already forgave you." Evie suddenly sighed, but when Chuck looked back at her, she was looking away, suddenly hunched over like Chuck was, arms folded defensively. "Danny probably would too, no matter what you did." She wiped her face, and Chuck had to look away again. "Well, Danny was better than me too. I guess we've got that in common. I don't forgive you. I never will. I'd have dealt with it if you and he'd really gotten together when he was alive…but I'm glad you never did. You didn't deserve him."
"I know," Chuck croaked. There's so much I didn't deserve –
- and so much you did, came Herc's voice in Chuck's head. Quit letting her thrash you. It won't bring him back. It won't even let her feel any better. She'll just end up regretting it if she goes on.
Gulping, Chuck stood. "I'll go. 'm sorry. I…he did deserve better. They all did. 'm sorry." Then he gave up and retreated back to the house, but not before he heard her breath hitching. Danny's parents were scowling out the windows when Chuck got to the door, but he got in their way when Danny's mum would've stalked out to yell at her. "Let her be. It's okay. She had a right." They both stared at him. "I won't forget him. Ever."
That took all the strength he had left, and he didn't say anything else at all. Herc said all the goodbyes, and on the ride back to the airstrip, Chuck still couldn't speak.
He'd expected yet another trip to Sydney to see Marian Taior and the remaining Dome kids, but instead, Kyrra and Marian were waiting at the airstrip. "She wanted to come meet you here," Kyrra explained.
Damn it, just looking at Kyrra's old mum made Chuck's throat too tight to talk. Marian jerked her head at Herc, and he and Kyrra walked away. That old Aboriginal woman who'd been Chuck's guardian for six months while Herc and Scott were at Academy always knew him better than anybody else up until Chuck drifted with his dad. So she didn't look shocked when Chuck sobbed into his balled fist, just came over and put a hand on his shoulder.
"Emma had words for you, didn't she?" Chuck could only nod as he fought to get a grip. "You know what it is to lose someone and be displaced from everything you know. She's mad at the world, boyo."
"I know," Chuck managed to choke out. "But…at me too. She thought Danny…wasn't just a…hook-up, y'know?"
Marian sighed. That she didn't scoff or laugh was all the confirmation Chuck needed. "Remember that one gave as good as he got when you were boys."
"He's dead!" Chuck snapped. "He's dead, and I'm not!" Then he belatedly remembered Marian had once had other kids than Kyrra, even grandkids, and Chuck had never met any of them because they'd all died in Sydney. "Sorry." He dropped onto the pavement. Even sitting down, he was tall enough for Marian to easily have her hand on his head. "No matter what, I still manage to shoot my mouth off."
"Maybe. But you didn't used to manage to apologize for it." She tugged his chin to make him look at her. She'd never been all that gentle with him. As a kid, he'd liked that about her, thinking too many people petted and coddled him when what he really wanted was a fight. Somehow, now, they were both different. "You do deserve to be alive, lad. Every Ranger we ever lost would agree on that. Stacker Pentecost did the right thing. Of course you've got regrets for things you said and did in war. We all do, and none of us can take 'em back. You won't help him or even her hating yourself all your life."
He was out and out crying now, and there was no way to hide it. Marian could tell, just rubbed his head. "She won't forgive me. She said so."
"Maybe not. Whether she forgives is up to her, and nothing you do or say changes that. Love, I'm saying you'll know when you're ready to forgive yourself. And your Danny, Evie, and all the others…they'd be glad of it when you do."
He gulped back another sob and looked up with her, too tired to care about his wet face. "Will you come back to the Hong Kong Dome with Kyrra and Dad and me?"
Marian scoffed, "Live out my old age in another noisy, dirty, oversized garage?!" Chuck blinked…and she smirked. "What do you think I'm doing here, lad? Kyrra already asked me. I said yes."
To Be Continued...
Coming Soon: It's Mako's turn to settle her past, as Team Gipsy (plus Jake Pentecost) head to Tangeshima, Japan to see the place where Mako was born, and the family who left her to an orphanage after Onibaba in Chapter Seventeen: Can You Ever Go Home?
PLEASE don't forget to review!
Original Character Guide
Devi/Susanti Hassan: Rangers of Vulcan Specter, Australia's Mark-3 Jaeger. Sisters, ages 34 and 32, first-generation daughters of Indonesian immigrants to Australia who graduated Jaeger Academy's Class 2016-B along with the Beckets, Kennedy LaRue, and Stephanie Lanphier. Killed in action in 2024.
Indra Hassan: Devi and Susanti's cousin, age 43, went through the Jaeger Academy with them but wasn't drift compatible with anyone, so trained as their LOCCENT Chief.
Kyrra Taior: Chief Engineer for Lucky Seven, then Striker Eureka. Aboriginal Australian, Herc's age. Youngest and sole surviving daughter of Marian Taior, an elderly aboriginal woman who occasionally looked after Chuck when he was younger. Susanti Hassan's long-term girlfriend.
Marian Taior: elderly Aboriginal Australian, mother of Striker and Lucky's Chief Engineer, she was Chuck's guardian in family housing while Herc and Scott went to Jaeger Academy in Alaska, and later became minder/teacher's aide for many of the Sydney Shatterdome kids, including Chuck Hansen and Danny Oliver.
Daniel (Danny) Oliver/Evelyn (Evie) Nakano: Pilots of Tacit Ronin. Danny, Australian-Polynesian, was Chuck's classmate in school and they frequently clashed prior to entering Jaeger Academy. Evie is Japanese-British. The three found common ground through sexual experimentation and later jokingly called themselves frenemies with benefits. Killed in action in early 2025.
Greg Oliver: Herc's comrade and fellow chopper pilot from before K-Day, then a support pilot for Lucky Seven and Striker Eureka. Like Herc, he joined the Jaeger Program in the wake of Scissure. He lost his parents and his oldest daughter, Karina, in the attack. His son, Danny, was accepted into the Jaeger Academy after four tries despite lower academic scores than Chuck, and became pilot of Tacit Ronin, but was killed in action in early 2025, leaving Greg and his wife with only one living child, Emma.
Emma Oliver: Greg Oliver's youngest daughter, 5 years younger than Chuck.