A/N: I'm blown away by the feedback on Chapter Six! Thank you all so much for the thoughtful reviews, and please keep them coming!

Canon Note: As far as I know, the names of Eden Assassin's pilots have not been revealed in the canon. As for the emotional and physical struggle involved with drift testing, although we're told that the Beckets were one of the star teams, I have a theory on the difficulty level of this training. In the words of another cinematic brother who tends to drown me in feels, "If it were easy, everyone would do it." (Trivia question: who/what did I quote?)

Chapter Seven: Go With The Flow

Jaeger Academy, Class 2016-B, Term 3…

October, 2016…

Raleigh was incredibly relieved to get back to the Academy for Term Three, and he had no doubt Yancy felt the same. They rushed through greetings and welcome-backs and the inevitable awkward words of condolence, then threw themselves that much harder into training.

The last time they had one of those conversations was when Tendo and the Gage twins spotted them in the barracks. "Hey, Becket boys!" Tendo called, making them both wince, and the Gages came hurrying around the corner. "Thank god! I was really worried we'd lost you!"

"We are so sorry," one of the twins said, and Raleigh mechanically accepted their handshakes. "You okay?"

"Uh-huh," Yancy was actually stammering, and Raleigh was trying and failing to not look at his feet.

Tendo elevated himself even further in their esteem by correctly interpreting the situation. "So, uh, should I put the word out that you just don't want to talk about it?"

"Thanks," Yancy breathed.

"Done deal, brother. I won't ask again, but anything else I can do?"

Raleigh shrugged, but Yancy actually considered it and smiled wearily. "We just… want to get back to work. Distraction's good."

"Distraction, huh?" Tendo's grin was absolutely wicked. "Hmm, I can probably think of a few things. Be careful what you wish for, though!" He winked, mock-saluted the Gages, then went sauntering off down the hall.

Bruce, Trevin, Yancy, and Raleigh watched him go. "I like him," mused one of the twins. "He should have a sign above his head : 'I solemnly swear I am up to no good.'" Raleigh and Yancy had to laugh.

There was a whole new slew of tech and schematics to learn, more and more complicated physical drills, more and more involved (and invasive) psychoanalysis. The last part caused them more discomfort than anything.

"You're about to have your brother in your head," Raleigh's personal headshrinker told him. "Nothing stays secret in the drift, and the more you want something to be secret, the more quickly it comes out. That's simply a fact."

She was nice enough, but still a stranger and an officer who would be reporting on him, and he did not like airing the gory details of what was inside his head to her. It was a little reassuring when she told him that every single other Ranger candidate had gone through this, and "the first few sessions are always as fun as pulling teeth." But not that reassuring. He hated it. Yancy did too.

The Gage twins came and went amid helping with establishing the new Shatterdome in Anchorage and their own ongoing training and practice and tests. "Be warned: it never ends," Bruce groaned at their class one day as they said hi in the hallway. "Not the testing, not the analysis, not the drills. Our fault for picking a new field - it's always developing." He had electrode spots all over his face.

Raleigh and Yancy had finally figured out a reliable way to tell which one was which: Bruce had a scar on his chin and Trevin didn't.

"Who gets to ask how he got that?" Brian Patrick asked slyly.

"Mom did it so she could tell them apart," Tendo guessed, getting gasps of outrage and lots of stifled laughter.

It was great having so many of their classmates still around on a regular basis. More than half of Class 2016-B's eliminated candidates were getting assessed and trained for other officer placements. Most of the candidates with engineering and tactical background got snapped up by J-Tech Engineering to work in the Proving Grounds. Some, like Lea Franklin, were handed offers for additional education on the PPDC's dime.

The whole Academy turned out to watch the dedication of Eden Assassin, the last Mark II, before she moved to the new Russian Shatterdome. "They want her there for the grand opening next month. She'll be Cherno Alpha's new roommate," the Gages told them.

A tradition had spawned with the roll-out of the Mark IIs that along with the old maritime traditions of naming the mech, another Jaeger broke a champagne bottle on it. Brawler Yukon, now decommissioned and residing full-time at the proving grounds as the "training mech," had the honor in Anchorage.

"If any of the Mark IIIs get named Titanic, I'm outta here," the irrepressible Tendo muttered in Raleigh and Yancy's ears as Vladimir Putin dedicated Eden Assassin.

They only got brief introductions to Eden's new Rangers, a pair of Estonian Air Force pilots who, interestingly, had never met before K-Day. But they'd been part of Estonia's contribution of minds and manpower first to the UN, then the PPDC, and obviously, they had forged one hell of a bond.

"Funny that we ended up with people from about as far from the Breach as you can get," Yancy mused.

"The Pacific may be the focal point now, but if the kaiju start spreading, or even one makes it into the Arctic Ocean or below South America..." Chloe Warner shook her head. "After K-Day, I was in Savannah at the beach, just... imagining one of 'em. Damn, sorry, baby," she patted Lea, who was starting to go pale. Tendo was also losing his usual humor along with the others who'd had front-row seats.

"Back to subject," said Yancy quickly. "The heroes of the hour." He gestured subtly to the two pilots, posing for photo after photo with Putin, with President Obama, and all the other dignitaries in front of Eden Assassin. "Hedy Keres sure is a looker."

There were sly noises of agreement from the guys and a couple of the girls, appreciating the female pilot for more than her skills. "Peter Lepp ain't bad either," added Cady. "Scuttlebutt is that they're an item." The two pilots had their arms around each other's waists. It could've just been camaraderie - lots of the Ranger pairs were very close, Raleigh knew - but it might not have been.

"Well, drifting is pretty intimate. Dr. Lightcap only met Lieutenant D'onofrio in the testing, and they're married now," observed Tendo.

Cady made a face. "That's a little weird if you think about it. Half the Rangers are siblings or cousins, and the other half are either married or wind up sleeping together. If drifting makes you horny - "

"Oh God!" Devi Hassan hissed as her sister gave Cady a furious shove. "Do not go there!"

"If all eight of us run screaming out of here, we'll tell Marshall who to blame," Brian growled, avoiding his cousin's eyes. Raleigh would have chimed in, but he was too busy trying not to gag - and not to think about the warnings the Gage twins had given.

He felt slow the next day when the Gages gave them a tour of the full-input simulator. There was a bucket on the floor next to each rig. "What're those for?"

Bruce and Trevin exchanged smirks. "You're a smart guy, Raleigh, you'll figure it out."

Prepping for the first round involved a lot of rehashing those warnings - don't panic, don't judge, don't recoil, just let it flow by - and reassurances that as long as they were open-minded and stayed calm, it would get easier. Raleigh wondered if this was the point where it would all fall apart; he and Yancy could barely look each other in the eye already, and they hadn't even made their first attempt yet!

His consolation came from his fellow finalists; Devi and Susanti were as anxious and embarrassed as he and Yancy, and Brian and Janet weren't much better. Kennedy and Steffie were a little calmer, since they didn't have the familial issues to deal with, but although they'd been friends since kindergarten, they knew this was going to be a whole new ball game.

The night before their first full drift, Raleigh and Yancy made a mutual, silent decision to go distract themselves separately. Raleigh hung out with Tendo and Cady, examining the training materials they'd been given on Local Command Center operations, and Yancy went off to the Kwoon to work out. Lea timidly followed him.

"She still keeping up the physical stuff?" Raleigh asked when he saw them sparring.

"Yep. She hasn't decided whether to take Schoenfeld up on his offer. Intensive work-study programs for engineering, robotics. She could have a PhD by the time she's twenty-one, but I think maybe she wants to stay with the class. She got into shape after K-Day because she was gonna join the army," said Cady, ever the information man.

"Hey, I don't blame her. I did the same thing," said Tendo, shaking his head. He gave Raleigh a sly smile. "I think she's also a little taken with your big bro, my man."

Raleigh sat back, startled. "What? She's a kid!"

"Dude, she's only six months younger than you!" he laughed.

As Raleigh ran his mind through the interactions he'd seen between Lea and his brother, he was... a little less amused than the others. He was pretty sure Yancy didn't think of her that way; she wasn't bad-looking, and maybe not really that young, but she seemed a lot younger. Yancy liked his girls a little more sure of themselves, although he was an unfailing gentleman with everyone. Lea wouldn't be the first girl who took it the wrong way when he was complimentary. But Yancy treated her, well, kind of like he did Jazmine when they'd gotten along.

Man, did that thought give Raleigh a pang. He hurriedly changed the subject back to Tendo and Cady's career plans.

The following day was both easier and harder than Raleigh and Yancy expected it to be. Raleigh's palms were sweating as they were into the pons caps and mock-up circuitry suits, and he felt like Dr. Lightcap was only talking to him when she kept repeating, "This is perfectly normal."

As the techs exited the simulator, Yancy asked, "Nervous?"

"Yeah," Raleigh admitted. "You?"

Yancy paused, then chuckled. "Y'know, I was about to deny it. No point, I guess. Ready to step into my head, kid?"

Raleigh grinned weakly as Dr. Lightcap said over the comm, "Initiating neural handshake in five ... four ... three ... two ... one..."

Reality dissolved. Light, weight, touch, sound evaporated and condensed and they were floating. Drifting.

It's okay, it'll be okay, just breathe -

Holy shit! Where are we?

Focus - focus, be strong, be strong for Rals -

Christ, this is weird.

Hanbōs clack-clack-clacked together in the Kwoon.

This isn't so bad.

"Again. This time, Yancy Becket, attack. Raleigh Becket, defend."

"Yessir!"

Four hits to three, Yance may be better but I can hold my own -

"Yancy? Raleigh? Focus for me! Focus on my voice!"

The Academy conn-pod sim room. Raleigh gasped as the present and reality re-formed, and heard Yancy coughing. He also felt Yancy coughing. He blinked repeatedly to get his blurry vision to focus on the glass where a Jaeger's view ports would be, and the techs and analysts and scientists on the other side. Dr. Lightcap was leaning against the monitors, her hand on the mic.

"Good, that's better. What you're experiencing is a full shared headspace. Focus on me, focus on my voice."

Her voice sounded funny, like an echo - but a simultaneous echo, so how could it be an echo in the first place? He was hearing it through his own and Yancy's ears, seeing double because he was seeing through his own and Yancy's eyes.

On the edges of their vision were floating things, like reflections in disturbed water… faces, places he knew, Yancy knew… it was hard to remember to look at Dr. Lightcap and not keep staring at them, trying to follow what they were or where they were going or where they'd come from…

Dammit, focus, dumbass!

"Uh?" he looked drunkenly to his right.

Yancy blinked, then realized Raleigh thought he'd been thinking at him. "Sorry, talking to myself." He grinned weakly. "We good?"

Wegoodwegoodwegood?

We're okaywe'reokay... "Yeah. We're okay."

Dr. Lightcap grinned at them. "Let's start the cognitive tests. They're just like the ones you've done before at screening, but now you have to solve them together in the drift. You're doing great, Rangers."

Rangers… "We're not going to college, we're joining the Rangers."

They raised their arms to the holographic puzzles in front of them, feeling like their limbs were immersed in wet cement. Tests and puzzles that had been absurdly simple at screening were now insanely hard and complicated. They fumbled along and got through the first one. The second one was harder to even understand, though Raleigh knew they had both done it during screening.

We can do this, Rals. We can do this.

There were voices on the edges of their awareness too, as if their minds were spreading out into the ocean, and anywhere they looked, everything they heard was a memory that spun them around and around in the current.

"You shouldn't need me to take care of you!" Yancy, frustrated and stressed, trying so hard not to shout at Jazmine.

"You're still gonna take care of HIM!"

Frustrationguiltshameangerfearguiltdoubtshamedoubt…

"Yancy, stay with me, you're going out of alignment!"

Jazmine's retreating back, out the front door when they were working on their applications. It was late spring but still snowing...

… It was early fall, and the grass of the cemetery grounds was brown and dry. Jazmine's retreating back, away from Mom's grave. Diane Saunders and her accusing eyes right in front of Yancy's face.

What have I done? Oh god, what have I done? Why are you looking at me like that? Am I a monster? Selfish, selfish like Mom, puffing away on her cancer sticks until she died and left me to take care of them, selfish like Dad running out on us the minute we've got her in the ground...

"Raleigh, Yancy, don't follow the memories. Rangers, can you hear me? Okay, we've got them both out of alignment. They're chasing the rabbit."

"What else is new? It's their first try."

Raleigh was starting to follow, and Yancy turned back desperately. "No. Please?"

Please, Rals, just let me deal with it. It's my fault, I should be the one who handles it. It was my responsibility, and I just dropped it. Mom abandoned us Dad abandoned us and now I've abandoned her - But we're joining the Rangers. We're drift compatible, we made the second cut - we never thought we would get this far! We could be Jaeger pilots, protecting the whole coastline! Doesn't that mean something? Isn't that more important?

"Here are the house keys." He handed them to Diane and fought to keep a straight face. Don't look at me like that don't look at me like that -

She leaned in, and he braced himself. "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, does it, Mr. Becket?"

It was like a television screen suddenly exploded into electric snow and static - only they were floating in it, and somewhere in this shared, otherworldly space, Raleigh thought he heard something like a howl of anguish. His legs gave way in the rig - No, Yancy's did.

"Hang on, guys, we're releasing the handshake. Three...two...one... Disengaged."

And Raleigh was back in his own head and his own body. He turned to see Yancy slide out of the rig and start throwing up. Oh, so that's what the bucket was for. The Gages had said this would be hard.

Raleigh's whole body was shaking, and he wasn't sure he wouldn't be needing his own bucket yet. He slumped in the rig in a daze as the techs and a couple of medics came in and started moving around him, but he couldn't quite focus on them.

"You're okay, Rangers, you're okay. I know it was rough, it always is."

"Breathe for me, Yancy, just breathe."

They let themselves get poked and prodded, and finally staggered out into the debriefing room. Dr. Lightcap came in, examining a tablet with all the readings she'd taken, and Raleigh managed to spare a few thoughts to wonder just how badly they had fucked it up.

To his surprise, she smiled. "That was actually very impressive." Raleigh blinked, and managed to look at Yance, finding his brother no less astonished than he was. "Well, it was. For two completely inexperienced candidates? That was quite a long first drift. Most don't even manage to start testing before we have to cut the connection. You finished a puzzle. Good work."

For once, Yancy looked as stupefied as Raleigh felt. They stared at Lightcap, then at each other. Yancy made a choked noise in his throat - and started to laugh. Raleigh found himself grinning helplessly.

"So we don't get scrubbed out if we have to use the bucket?"

"I would be more worried if you didn't have to use it," Lightcap replied. She glanced at the clock. "Report back tomorrow for the next round. Same bat time, same bat channel." Now Raleigh laughed wearily. No wonder she liked Yancy so much.

They passed Kennedy and Stephanie on their way into the labs for their round. Both girls blanched at the sight of them. "Oh God. Is it that bad?"

Raleigh wasn't sure how to answer that. Yes and no?

"When you're in there, it's... pretty freaky," Yancy admitted. "But everyone says it's normal to freak the first time. Focus on the tests."

"Thanks, Yance."

They showered and found they'd been given a very long free period before lunch. Raleigh had a feeling he knew what the schedulers were expecting here. So they sat on the floor of their room and stared at their feet.

"I didn't want you to know about that," Yancy muttered.

Raleigh rubbed his eyes. "No point in not wanting me to know anything anymore, is there?" He made himself look at his brother. "You... you don't need to protect me. Not here. If we're gonna be Rangers, we've both got to be grown-ups."

"Yeah, I know." Yancy didn't sound terribly happy about it.

"Diane's full of shit," Raleigh said. Yancy flinched, and he had that look like Raleigh had seen the night before the funeral in the kitchen: beaten down. "You're nothing like Dad."

Yancy squeezed his eyes shut, and tears slid down, and that was horrible.

No, Yance, no, don't be like this! You're nothing like him! Dad was the one who was supposed to stay, he was the one responsible for Jazz, not you! He's the one who dicked off and left us in the lurch, not you!

Breathing heavily, Yancy got himself back under control and got up to wipe his face. "If we keep going... you're gonna see things, hear them in my head. Sometimes I'm a heartless bastard."

Raleigh scoffed. "Like I'm ever gonna get nominated for sainthood. You're still the best brother ever."

Well, that backfired. It was just a spur-of-the-moment, empty, childish praise, but Yancy stared at him like he'd said something outlandish. Then his face just broke all over again, and he sobbed!

Yancy, I'm sorry, shit, I'm sorry, don't cry, please!

Even as Raleigh scrambled to his feet, trying to babble out an apology, he was suddenly enveloped in the hardest, most fierce bear hug he'd gotten... possibly ever. He was shocked for a couple of seconds, but then he was returning it, hugging Yancy as hard as he could until it felt like both of their ribcages were going to cave in and they were still holding on.

It was like the anti-drift, everything solid and anchored and tactile and real. Rooting them back in the ground, on solid earth, and they could walk again. It was perfect.

Finally, he had to croak out, "Yance, I can't breathe!"

Letting go, Yancy grinned at him and pinched his cheek, making him growl. "You're not such a bad specimen of brotherhood yourself, kid. You think maybe we can do this?"

"Yeah." Raleigh didn't have to think about it. "We can do this."

To be continued...

Coming Soon: Simulator training intensifies, and one of the four teams is cut. The finalists are introduced to another pair of newly-minted Rangers, and endure the scrutiny and constant ribbing of their peers as the betting also intensifies on the outcome of Class 2016-B. Odds are laid and bets are made and things lighten up in Chapter Eight: I Got The Horse Right Here!

PLEASE remember to review!

Original Character Guide

Devi and Susanti Hassan - First-generation daughters of Indonesian immigrants to Australia, ages 26 and 24. One of four teams (including the Beckets) to survive the second cut.

Brian Patrick and Janet McDonald - First cousins, Irish nationals, mid-20s. Their parents were NATO aid workers who went to San Francisco after K-Day. Brian's father and Janet's mother both died of exposure to Kaiju Blue toxin, leading the cousins to enlist in the PPDC. One of four teams (including the Beckets) to survive the second cut.

Cady Spencer - mid-20s, Filipino-American from Portland, Oregon. His mother's family is from Manila, and she lost all contact with them after Hundun attacked in 2014. Failed the second cut, but stayed with PPDC for officer training.

Lea Franklin - age 17, lived in San Jose, California. Sole survivor of K-Day out of her family because she was traveling abroad with a school group. Has intense social anxiety due to PTSD, but trained for military service to avenge her family. Failed the second cut, but stayed with PPDC for officer training.

Christian and Chloe Warner - African-Americans from Atlanta, Georgia, ages 25 and 23, half-siblings from a blended family. Failed the second cut, but stayed with PPDC for officer training.

Antwan Ferrier - Jamaican national, age 38, was a cruise ship steward in Cabo San Lucas when Kaiceph attacked. Failed the second cut, but stayed with PPDC for officer training.

Peter Lepp and Hedy Keres - pilots of Eden Assassin, Russia's Mark II Jaeger, which launches in late October 2016. Estonian air force pilots who met after K-Day, graduated class 2016-A of the Jaeger Academy.

Familiar Faces

Kennedy LaRue and Stephanie Lanphier - childhood friends from Seattle, age 18, high school athletes and cheerleaders who opted to try the Jaeger Academy after their college plans were derailed by the war. (If you don't know more than that, well, wait and see!) One of four teams (along with the Beckets) to survive the second cut.

Dr. Caitlin Lightcap - age 30ish, from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, inventor of the pons neural bridge and co-pilot of Brawler Yukon, the first Jaeger, until its destruction.