Work Text:
The Kaiju come out of the Pacific Ocean in the winter of 1932. On the other side of the United States, in Lake Placid, the Winter Olympics are in progress. Only a few countries are in attendance. War is on the horizon.
Evgeni is on the ice, playing hockey for America in the semi-finals. If his team wins, they will face Russia in the finals. Sidney Crosby is the Canadian team's Captain, and it is a close match.
The American team executes a pass that sends the puck into the net before the Canadian Goalie has a chance to react. Evgeni skates a lap around the net before turning back towards the center of the rink. His eyes meet Crosby's, and he nods in respect.
They both are moving in for the next face-off, when the air raid sirens begin to wail.
Evgeni's attention shifts as he looks to the skies for any sign of bombers. Then a voice comes through the loudspeakers. Whoever is using the PA system sounds young. Their voice is too loud and too soft by turns. ~May I have everyone's attention. There has been an attack on the Pacific Coast.~
Evgeni braces himself. This has to be about the war. Perhaps even an attack by the Japanese forces. When he last heard from his parents, they were leaving their farm and heading to Oregon. Hoping they could escape the famine caused by the dust bowl. He whispers a prayer that they are alright.
The announcer continues after a moment. ~The attackers are of unknown origin. They are suspected to be a weapon created by one of our enemies. Great beasts, that can destroy a town in minutes.~
There are shocked gasps and screams from the spectators that surround the rink. Evgeni doesn't believe the announcer is being truthful. He remembers the old stories that the sailors told his family when they crossed the Atlantic. Certainly this is simply another of those stories.
It cannot be real. He turns to his team to ask if they believe these stories, but they have clustered around the net, whispering among themselves.
He tries to reassure himself; this must be some strange American humor.
The announcer continues. ~Until we are able to ascertain the extent of these attacks, and what country or group is behind them, all game play has been suspended~
There is a click as the PA system turns off.
The bells that call the end of play begin to chime. The coaches motion the teams off the rink. In the stands, barely controlled panic has taken over.
# # # #
They are detained in America for two weeks. The games had been put on hold at first, but now they are called to an end.
Reports continue to come in from the West. People call back across the nation, describing beasts out of ancient myths and literature. The radio reports death tolls in the thousands. The whole west coast of the United States is lost. Whole regions destroyed by the monsters.
Sid doesn't know if western Canada has faired the same; all foreign representatives have been kept from contacting their home nations until the Americans are sure that they aren't controlling the beasts.
Despite the lack of leads regarding who had created the monsters, there are rumors that the foreign nationals will be sent home soon. Some of Sid's teammates aren't willing to return home.
Not when the radio is reporting a program to stop the monsters, the Kaiju. His team-mates are athletes, not government officials. They believe in action. Every one of them is willing to sacrifice their lives if it means protecting their homelands.
On the night a train to Chicago is supposed to come through town, Sid sneaks out of the Olympic camp with the Canadian athletes that are staying in America. There are athletes from other countries who are heading west as well. All of them plan to meet up with the scientists responsible for the Shatterdome Initiative.
He considers going with them, but he can't bring himself to do it. Not when he doesn't know what happened to his family. They live in central Canada, but Sid hasn't been able to reach them, and he cannot imagine never knowing if his parents and sisters are alive.
He hugs his team-mates goodbye, and shares a respectful nod with the Americans, particularly Evgeni. Had things been different he thinks that he and Evgeni would have been lifetime rivals, sharing a bond of respect and competition. Sadly it is not to be.
He stays at the train station, until the train has pulled away and is out of sight beyond the nearby copse of trees. Then he makes his way carefully back to camp, and into the Canadian hockey team's bunk.
Now he just has to wait until the athletes’ desertion is discovered in the morning. He will no doubt have a lot of questions to answer.
At least he will not have to lie for long. Once the teams get to Chicago and enlist in the Initiative it will be hard for the American government to send them home.
# # #
Evgeni's time with the Shatterdome Initiative is not quite what he had expected when he snuck away from the Olympic camp. Guns don't work on the Kaiju. They barely react to canon-fire. Aircraft mounted machine guns cause only minimal damage.
Old penny dreadful novels come alive before Evgeni's eyes. All of the great minds that originally gathered for the World Fair in Chicago have turned their eyes to the Pacific Ocean. Every day, new scientists and inventors descend on California and Oregon. All of them are full of grand ideas and new-fangled contraptions. Not all of them are useful to the war efforts. Most of these men and women are used to making inventions for exhibition, not to fight with. They are adapting though, everyone doing their part to make sure the world survives.
The scientist's most impressive invention is the Jaeger. A creation of steel, wires, and electricity, it towers above every building in their makeshift camp. He suspects that once it is completed, its size will rival that of the Kaiju it was made to fight. The scientists are still being secretive about how they will control the beast, but they have started a Ranger Corps for perspective pilots. Evgeni is proud to say he is one of their numbers.
He trains more hours now than he ever trained when he was preparing for the Olympics. He enjoys it more that he thinks he should. The training keeps his mind and body busy. He has yet to hear from his family, and it is likely that the world will be destroyed before he does.
Even the wars that seemed so important when the Olympics began have fallen by the wayside. It is hard to hold onto old grudges after six months of fighting monsters. With each week that passes it feels like another Kaiju comes out of the sea. They don't always make land-fall in America, and that sense of uncertainty has insured that trans-oceanic traffic grinds to a halt.
Even the Atlantic Ocean isn't safe anymore. With no way to kill the Kaiju nobody can keep them from going south around the tip of the South American continent. The icy waters near Antarctica slow them down, but even the cold never stops them for long.
No one knows if Australia is still alive. Russia, Europe, and Asia still send the occasional trans-oceanic telegraph, but weeks pass between the messages. There is never enough information to know if they are doing better at fighting back than America. If they'd found a way to kill the Kaiju, surely they would have let the other Allied nations know.
With the camp full of such upheaval, training is a welcome chance to concentrate on the present instead of internal concerns. He is so desperate to get out of his own head that he doesn't hesitate before agreeing to study astral projection with the Masters of eastern religions that the scientists have brought in. His mother and father would be horrified, but God wouldn't have put him on this path, if he didn't mean for Evgeni to pursue a position as a Jaeger pilot.
Evgeni has seen the wires and radio tube covered helmets that some of the senior pilots practice with. They glow when the Rangers leave their physical bodies to ascend to a different plane. More importantly, when two Rangers meditate together their movements become synchronized. It is the same mirroring of movement he's witnessed in skaters who work together so long they can anticipate each other's thoughts.
It is a frightening idea, being that close to anyone else without knowing them for years, but it isn't frightening enough to make him hesitate. If he can learn to astral project, then he will just have to trust that God will put the right co-pilot in his path.
# # #
Six months pass before Sid is finally able to make his own way to the western coast of the United States. Six months of only getting second or third hand information. He doesn't get the same information on his family's farm in central Canada that he got when he was sequestered in the international Olympic camp.
The last letter he received from his team is two months old. He's read and re-read it, gleaning every kernel of information he can. After four months of fighting, they had all still been alive. He prays that doesn't change before he can get to them.
Canada is one of the last safe places in the world. The country remains frozen for most of the year, and there is nothing but solid ice further north. The few Kaiju that come north have returned south soon after. They seem to prefer warmer climates. The lack of trade outside the continent make things difficult, but people adjust. Everyone is used to being isolated and depending only on themselves.
If he can find a way South he won't have to worry about his family. They have the best chance of survival of anyone on the planet. When he came home, he was desperate to check on his family. Now he wishes that he'd been reckless enough to go with his team-mates. He isn't the same person that he was when he left for the Olympics.
He puts away his skates as soon as he's home, but he doesn't know what to do with himself after that. At first he does the only thing he can think of. He learns how to fire a gun for more than the occasional hunting expedition. Then, once he starts receiving letters from his team, he uses their stories as a guide to what he needs to work on. They write about new fighting techniques and strange rituals to take them outside of their bodies.
He doesn't know what to think of these strange tales. His family are devout if distant Catholics. He's never felt that close to God, but still he doesn't know if he feels comfortable going against the laws he's been taught all of his life.
It is a quandary he pushes out of his thoughts. For now, he has plenty to work on, learning how to fight and shoot. If the letters discussing new religions end up under his mattress, where mother won't look, well that's just him trying to keep the peace.
He takes odd jobs in what little time he has between training and chores. Travel has become more expensive than ever, and a cross-continental train ticket will cost more than he's likely to make in another six months.
It feels like he's failing his team by taking so long to join them, but he has no prospects. Unsure what to do, he talks to his mother about his concerns. She is the one who always supported his choice to play hockey. She hugs him, and tells him God will provide.
He trusts her, so he forces himself to concentrate on his training and leave things in God's hands.
One evening, when he comes in from training, dinner has already begun. His sisters and father are sitting around the table, and there is a train ticket to California on his plate. "Mother?"
"Your sisters and I discussed it, and we decided to turn in a portion of each of their dowries."
He pulls Mother into a tight hug, the girls join them until they are all huddled together in the space between the wooden stove and the dinner table.
Father doesn't join them.
That night, after Mother and the girls go to bed, Father asks him to stay behind. They sit across from each other. Between them there is a bottle of vodka from the stash hidden under the porch. "I hope you realize that I do not approve of this."
"I know you don't approve, but I believe that I need to do this."
"It is reckless. Your place is here, helping your sisters and keeping the farm going. We will be the last survivors of the human race. It is important that we do our part to follow God's plan."
Over the last few months, Sid has felt helpless. The idea of just sitting here and letting the world be destroyed doesn't sit well with him. "You act like we are just meant to accept this and leave everyone to die."
"God sent a flood to wipe out the sinful people of the world. Noah and his children were the only ones to survive. The world was saved from itself."
Sid knocks back the rest of the vodka in his glass. "God gave Noah the plans for the ark. He wanted humanity to survive. This time he's given us scientists and Rangers. I won't let them fight alone. I'm sorry I can't stay here to protect Mother or the girls." He is sorry, but he wouldn't dream of taking them with him and he won't apologize for following his beliefs. He goes upstairs, to bed, before he says something hurtful.
The next morning he, his mother, and his sisters dress in their funeral best and see him to the train. He watches and waves until the train station is out sight.
# # # #
Evgeni goes with the Canadian contingent to meet the train coming in from the central United States. Sidney Crosby had sent a telegram, informing his team the date he is supposed to arrive. The whole Canadian contingent has been celebrating ever since; they'd all been upset when they had to leave Crosby behind.
He considers refusing to go with them. Thinking about Crosby reminds him uncomfortably of the time before the Jaeger program, when he and the other Rangers were opponents, instead of team mates.
When the Canadians start for the station, he still hasn't come up with a good reason to avoid going with them. The station workers are used to the Rangers by this point. They don't blink when a boisterous crowd of boys, barely old enough to be drinking, descend upon the train.
It's a cargo train. No moneyed passengers are coming to vacation on the west coast these days. Even the families who fled west to escape the Dust Bowl have returned home, fleeing certain death for a slim chance of survival on their decimated farms.
It probably helps that the government is suddenly interested in spending whatever it takes, to keep the farmlands going. Even Evgeni's family has returned back to the family homestead.
The train pulls into the station with a wail of metal against metal and the squeal of brakes. It sends a chill up Evgeni's spine, and he sees more than a few of the other Rangers cover shivers of their own.
The sound is too similar to the squeals of a damaged Jaeger.
A few minutes after the train pulls into the station, people start to disembark. They're mostly engineers and steel workers, clothed in thick coveralls, their tools in hand. It is easy to pick out Crosby. He's dressed in a suit, the kind Evgeni used to wear when his family went to service.
It's strange to see someone dressed up. The Rangers generally wear rough britches and shirts, covered in gear grease and darkened with sweat. The Canadian team descends on Crosby, teasing him about always being so clean and orderly.
Backing away slowly, Evgeni hopes to avoid notice until he can leave the station. The Canadians are busy with Crosby, he doubts they will notice he is gone until they leave for the bar.
His escape is arrested, when Crosby pushes his team mates aside and strides up to Evgeni. Crosby holds a hand out for him to shake, "Evgeni, I wanted to thank you for looking after my boys while I was home."
Evgeni stared at the outstretched hand for a moment, before grasping it firmly. Their eyes meet and Evgeni feels like something clicks into place. Maybe this is what the matched Ranger pairs meant when they talked about knowing the minute they met their partners.
# # # #
Three months after Sid arrives in the California Shatterdome, and it is finally time. The Conn-pod lies open before them. Its interior is full of metal pipes and glass radio tubes that glow under the gas lights. Evgeni's arm brushes against his. The sensation is blunted by the thick armor they wear.
Layers of leather and copper wire make up the bulk of the suits, tracking their movements and transferring the information to their Jaeger. He can feel his heart pounding in his chest. It's like the last few seconds before he went out on the ice at the Olympics. The knowledge that what comes next will change his life. Even though this is only a training round, if it doesn't go well they might never get the chance to fight Kaiju.
Turning, he meets Evgeni's gaze. Evgeni is smiling, but Sid knows him well enough to read the tightness in his shoulders, and the way Evgeni's weight is shifted to the balls of his feet. They are already mirroring each other's emotions. A good sign for when they enter the drift. Evgeni splits away to enter the left side of the Con. Sid gets into position in the right side.
Strange that nine months ago they were facing off on the ice. Now they are fighting on the same side. Both of them are willing to throw everything on the line. Drift-partners that have fought together multiple times aren't the same people they were when they started piloting. They become something otherworldly, as though they share the same soul.
The idea of melding so fully with Evgeni should scare him more than it does. He should want to back out of the Conn. Instead he lifts his chin in defiance of his own internal doubts and waits for the tech to start calling out the countdown until the drift starts.
Three..Two…One. There is a crackle of electricity as the tech flips the activation switch and the Conn powers on. Any lingering fear is washed away in the blinding blue light that bridges his mind with Evgeni's.
It's like being out on the ice. That moment before the puck dropped, when it was just him and his opponent waiting to see which of them would be the fastest. Two people focusing on the same goal until even their breathing begins to mirror each other's.
There is a tickling in the back of their mind. Two lifetime's worth of memories waiting to be relived. They push away the urge. They will explore the memories later, when they don't have a Jaeger to pilot.
Together they breathe out, and take their first step. The Jaeger follows them forward.
It is the first step towards the rest of their life.
# # # #
Fin