Mako's back in the ash and darkness. She can see Raleigh on one side of her, lying quiet and still, and Jake on the other, tracing his fingers over nothing but probably, in his head, over the Coyote Tango poster in his room.
She can feel Sensei standing beside her. She knows, without him needing to tell her, it's time to go. Ahead of her is the street, the ash, the lost shoe; the ocean, the single escape pod, the chopper rotors in the distance. And through that is the Drift.
She goes to Jake first. When he sees her, he seems surprised, then overjoyed. He hugs her, and she lets him for a few minutes, but they can't stay there forever because the door is closing. The light from the street is fading, and she can hear Onibaba coming.
She shakes Raleigh awake, because only he could fall asleep in the middle of an actual Drift, and he's even happier to see her than Jake was. He almost knocks her over when he hugs her. She's used to that. Raleigh isn't exactly gentle, but his roughness is just the clumsy, overbearing affection of a big dog excited to see the person it loves. She doesn't mind.
"Mako. I'm so sorry. I'm sorry I ran away."
"Raleigh, don't you dare keep apologizing to me." She wanted to yell at him for scaring the hell out of her, for not trusting her, for running from his problems. But she can't bring herself to. Not after she watched him clinging to his brother and crying. It's not his fault he's damaged, or that he doesn't want to get close to anyone anymore. It's not his fault he's afraid to care about people.
"I should have been here. I should have told you what was wrong." He buries his face in her shoulder. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I didn't want to hurt you." His hands are tangled in her hair, she can feel him struggling to hold back sobs. "I'm sorry I scared you."
"It's okay. I know. I know." She runs her hands over his back. "I know you didn't mean to. It's okay. You're back now. That's the only important thing." It is. As long as she knows he's here and safe, not lost and freezing and dying alone, pulled down in the darkness by his own guilt. She hopes seeing Yance and Chuck helped. Maybe he found some closure like she did. But even if he didn't, she's going to make sure she's here for him. That she doesn't sweep his problems under the rug just because he seems to want to pretend they don't exist.
"We need to go." All three of them are at the edge of the street. There's a shoe and a monster, and Mako knows somehow, this is the last time she'll see this R.A.B.I.T. in the Drift. And then they run. She doesn't know what will happen if they get caught. If Onibaba catches up, will they all be trapped in this half-Drift, half-dream world forever?
She doesn't have to find out, because all of them reach the ocean that is somehow incongruously in the middle of the city. She plunges into the water and starts swimming toward the lone escape pod. She doubles back to help Jake with Raleigh, because with his left arm as bad as it is, he's having trouble swimming. All three of them reach the pod and sit down on top of it. Raleigh rests his forehead against Mako's, just like she remembers. She has one arm around Jake and he's leaning on her shoulder. All three, together. They're safe. I got them out, Sensei. We saved ourselves. Together.
And then the chopper rotors fade into rhythmic beeping and whooshing, and Mako blinks up at white ceiling instead of blue sky.
"Yes! It worked! It freaking worked!" Someone with very blue hair and someone she thinks is Newt are jumping up and down and high-fiving each other. Hermann is leaning on his cane, smiling. She looks to her left, and Jake is sitting slumped over in his chair, a Drift helmet on the ground next to him and a huge tired smile on his face. She's afraid to look to the right.
She doesn't have to, because a very familiar work-calloused hand squeezes hers. "Mako." He doesn't have to say anything else. She turns toward him. He's smiling too, not quite as wide as Jake, because she doesn't think he'll ever really be that free again, but it's enough. She doesn't think she's ever seen him this genuinely happy and peaceful, and he looks perfect, beard she told him to shave a week ago and all.
She doesn't know how long she was in there. Maybe there's still a war. Maybe the world is still ending. But right now, she doesn't care at all.