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One moment, she's about to cross the finish line, arms up in celebration. The next, her shoes hit sand and she ungracefully slips and falls, faceplanting into the sand. When she pops her head up, she's on a beach.
Mayano frowns. She hasn't been able to run on a beach since the last summer camp her trainer took her too, and this looks nothing like the beach there: too much water and way fewer trees. No one else is nearby, and the setting sun sends stabbing rays of light when she glances back over the ocean. She picks herself up and starts off away from the ocean, trying her best to keep from slipping and falling again.
A building a little farther away catches her eye, large cars parked around it. She cautiously approaches, tugging the straps of her pants nervously. Despite the cars parked outside, the inside of the building is empty, only one person standing behind the counter. Maya perks up in realization: this looks just like a bar that her dad took her to a lot when she was growing up.
The door closes with a slight bang and it startles her, the woman behind the counter looking up. “Hello?”
—
Penny frowns. A very small girl stands right inside the entrance to the Hard Deck, looking extremely nervous. “Are you okay?” She asks, setting down the glass she's cleaning and moving around the bar.
The girl flinches and wraps her arms around herself. Penny takes a closer look at her jacket and notices it bears striking resemblance to Pete's flight jacket. “Honey? Is something the matter?” She doesn't respond, not at first, before breaking into a sudden stream of heavy Japanese. Penny barely catches any of it, holding a hand for her to wait.
Picking up the glass, she fills it halfway with apple juice and offers it to the girl, who lights up at the glass and eagerly drinks it. While she's chugging the juice, Penny pulls out her phone and dials the nearest hospital. “Hi, I have a young girl here in my bar, and I don't know where she came from or how she got here, and I don't think she speaks English. Is there any way you could give her a check up and maybe figure out where she came from?”
She takes a peek back at the girl and notices something strange. “I think she has horse ears?”
—
Maya bats away the next hand that reaches for her ears, scowling. The doctor smiles at that and says something she still doesn't understand, but she guesses the intention. “I'm not a little kid!”
The doctor looks a little startled, then says something that she doesn't understand again. When she doesn't respond, still scowling, she tries something else. “Japanese?”
Maya nods, and the doctor sets down her clipboard and hurries out the door. She waits until the door is about to close and grabs the handle just before it clicks shut, poking her head out. No one seems to be paying attention to her, so she carefully maneuvers out of the room and scampers down the hall.
Unfortunately, the doctors took her shoes, and she frowns as her socks fail to provide her the right amount of traction. Someone shouts behind her, and she panics, opening the closest door to her and running inside.
—
“Mav, I swear to God, if you try and leave this hospital bed one more time, I'm taking away the keys to your bike and telling whoever's in charge to ground you.” Rooster groans, pinching the bridge of his nose. “There's a reason why you're there.”
“But I feel fine!” Pete practically whines, half-heartedly tugging on the cuffs around his legs. “I've already taken all the tests they want me to do and the meds they give me taste funny.”
“Mav, they're supposed to taste funny-” Rooster cuts himself off. “Do you want to be in so much pain that you get grounded again because you ripped open your stitches again?”
Pete sulks in the bed.
“That's what I thought.” Rooster smugly says, settling down in the chair next to him. “Now-”
Yelling and clattering draw their attention, whatever Rooster was about to say dying on his lips. A minute later, the door to their room quickly opens and a small person darts in and shuts it, pressing underneath the window as security guards and doctors run past. The person, no, a girl, Pete realizes, stands on her tiptoes to look out the small window, and when she seems to think they won't find her, relaxes.
She turns around and freezes at the sight of the two of them. Pete notices the giant bundle of orange hair at her waist that follows her turn and holy shit, she has ears that are definitely not human sticking out of her head, twitching. “Who-”
“Papa!” The girl cries, throwing herself at him. Both him and Rooster freeze, though he quickly unfreezes and opens his arms to catch her, grunting at the impact she makes on his ribs.
Rooster locks eyes with him between long ginger hair and mouths ‘Papa?’ to which he can only half shrug, arms still full of the mystery girl. She leans back, locking eyes with him, and starts talking very quickly in what he thinks is Japanese, and he only catches a word every so often that he remembers.
“Whoa, slow down, kid. I can't understand.” He says gently, and she looks up at him with wide, amber eyes. She repeats something and when he doesn't respond, her eyes start welling with tears. “Uhm…”
A second later, she bursts into sobs, wailing despondently. Pete panics, looking to Rooster for help, but he looks just as panicked in turn. The girl cries harder and buries her face in his shirt, clinging tightly to him. When the door clicks open, evidently drawn by her very loud crying, the doctor that peers in appears very happy to have found her.
“Oh thank goodness you found her. She ran out of her room and we got worried when we couldn't find her.” The doctor says, though soon her brow creases. “Is she alright?”
“I don't know?” Pete answers. “She called me papa and then started crying when I didn't understand her.”
The doctor sighs. “That was our first problem. I don't speak Japanese either, and I wasn't about to pull out my phone just to translate. I left the room to see if we could get someone to translate and she must have gotten out right after.”
Rooster perks up. “Phoenix speaks Japanese. I can ask her to come translate for us?”
—
If there's one thing that Phoenix wishes Rooster would do more, it would be sending clear messages. Clearly he didn't get the memo, because all she gets is an ominous ‘Come to the hospital’ and nothing else. So of course, she asks Bob to drive them over (if she drove, she'd drive too fast, and she needed that energy to potentially strangle Bradley when she sees him) and they get there quickly enough.
Inside the waiting room, Bradley pales as he watches Natasha storm in. “Bradley Bradshaw, what have I told you about texting me the most worrying messages possible!”
“Are you Phoenix?” A doctor interrupts. Natasha glances over, confused, but nods. “Great. We need you in room 12.”
“Room 12? Is something the matter?” Natasha asks, worry bubbling back up.
“Did no one tell you anything?” The doctor asks, and when she shakes her head no, sighs. “Of course. We got a call from one of the bars nearby about a girl that had just wandered in, and when we tried to give her a check up, she ran off, and now…”
The doctor pushes open the door to room 12, and to her surprise, Maverick sits awkwardly on the cot, cradling a very orange haired girl in his lap. The girl is quietly crying, clutching very tightly to his shirt.
“We couldn't get anything from her besides that Mr. Mitchell here is apparently her father. We think she only speaks Japanese, so we needed a translator.” The doctor quietly says. “Anything would help.”
“Of course.” Natasha enters slowly, waving in greeting whenever the girl looks up at her. ``Hi! I'm Natasha, but you can call me Nat. What's your name?``
``Mayano Top Gun, but my friends call me Maya.`` The girl… Mayano? whispers. Nat looks up at Mav, who looks just as confused.
``Top Gun? Like the flight school?``
``My dad's a pilot.`` Mayano clings to Mav even tighter, if his wince is any indication. ``I don't understand! Why doesn't he know me?``
Nat's heart breaks a little. ``Maya, I don't think that's your dad.``
Mayano shakes her head. ``He looks just like him! He knew the jacket patches too! Who else could it be?``
``Maya, where are you from?`` Nat asks.
``Tracen Academy. I'm training to be one of the top horsegirls of Japan.`` She mutters.
``Japan? We're in America. I'm so sorry.`` Nat says quietly.
Mayano sniffles. ``America? I've never been here before.``
Nat thinks for a moment. ``You said your dad is a pilot, right? Would you want to go see the planes we have?``
She immediately perks up. ``Planes? What kind?``
—
“Wow!” Maya exclaims, running back and forth through the hanger. The other four people watch her bewilderedly. The one with glasses leans over to Nattie and whispers something in her ear. “You've got so many planes here!”
“Only for the best.” Nattie says proudly. “I don't think I've seen anyone this excited to see planes since Maverick came across that abandoned airfield.”
The one with glasses snickers, and the mustached one looks at him with confusion. “Phoenix, I don't think anyone compares to that.” At the twin looks of confusion from her and Nattie, he blushes. “Oh, my name is Bob. I'm sorry for not saying sooner.”
Maya smiles. “It's okay!” She can't help continuing to run back and forth, so amazed by everything. “This place is amazing! Nothing like back home!”
Nattie smiles. “Would you want to go up with us?”
She spins around. “Really?”
Bob nudges Nattie, who waves him off. “I'm sure we could make it happen, just not here.” Nattie grins cheekily at Maverick and says something that makes him grin as well. “If you want to ride with us again, you can, we're going to go to Maverick's place.”
Maya gasps. “Can I run?”
Nattie and Bob share a glance. “You want to.. run?” He asks.
“Just for a bit! I want to stretch my legs a little.” She taps her shoes against the ground.
Bob shrugs. “I don't think that it would hurt anything.”
Nattie turns back to her. “Do you want to follow us for a bit?”
—
“How the hell is she doing that.” Rooster flatly asks.
Behind Bob's car is Mayano, running a very easy pace on the sidewalk, effortlessly weaving around the few people that happen to be passing by. Despite the 30 mph they were going, she kept pace without any problems.
“I don't think she's even broken a sweat.” Nat comments, staring at her as well. Bob can only get a glimpse if he checks his mirrors, but Rooster thinks he only does when necessary. “I thought her saying horsegirls was something I misunderstood, but I guess not.”
Once they're outside the city, Bob slows the car over to the side of the road, Mayano quickly catching up to them with a huge smile on her face. She immediately begins speaking to Nat, who returns the grin. Rooster leans up to Bob, tapping him on the shoulder. “Any chance you could translate?”
Bob snorts. “I'm more formally trained compared to Nix. While I understand Japanese pretty well, I can't translate without it sounding weird.”
Nat bursts out laughing at something Mayano says, then turns to Rooster. “Open the door, we're driving her the rest of the way.”
Rooster opens the door and scoots over, Mayano hopping into the seat behind him, leaning forward and continuing to chatter with Nat. Bob adds something to the conversation, before eyeing Rooster in the backseat. “Told her to play nice with you. If she can run as fast as a horse, she can probably kick like one, and I don't think my car's built for that.”
Despite the reassurances that she wouldn't kick him, Rooster can't help himself from giving Mayano suspicious side glances as they continue driving. She somehow catches on and begins glaring back, and he flinches at the first one. “Nat, are we sure she's Mav's kid? If anything, I would've pegged her as your sister.”
“She's not Mav's kid, she's the kid of some guy who looks exactly like Mav.” She responds, then says something to Mayano. “Plus, I doubt she's from our world, unless Japan's started doing weird genetic stuff.” She says one more thing to Mayano as they roll up.
“If she was Mav's kid, wouldn't that make you her brother?” Bob asks.
Rooster shudders. “I don't want to think of that. Mav's enough as is.”
—
“IS THAT-” Maya can't even bring herself to finish her question, dancing in a circle with excitement.
“Maverick's proud of her too.” Bob quietly chuckles.
Maya whips her head towards the group. “Is he going to take me up in it?”
“That's the plan.” Nattie says. “Here.” She hands her a radio headset. “We're going to be plugged in so we can translate between the two of you.”
Maverick walks out from behind the plan and says something to Nattie, who nods. Maya tugs on her shirt. “Can you tell him something for me?”
Nattie looks surprised. “Sure. What do you want me to say?”
Maya takes a moment to think. “Tell him that even if he's not my dad, he's just as cool as mine. And even though he's not, I still love him like a dad. Tell him he's like my second dad.”
Nattie blinks, then turns and hopefully repeats it all to Maverick, who also blinks, staring at her in confusion. Maya feels her cheeks flame, blushing and fighting the urge to hide behind Nattie when he steps forward.
All he does is hug her tightly.
He whispers something into her ear, stuttered and hesitant, but still clearly “I love you too.”
—
From what Pete can see, Mayano has practically plastered herself to the side of the cockpit, face smushed against the glass. She keeps making awed sounds as they fly over the mountain range, cooing and exclaiming in glee. A hand shakes his shoulder, a steady flow of Japanese following.
“She says she's having a lot of fun. Oh, and that isn't anything like home, but the flying feels like it.” Phoenix translates.
“Well, I'm glad she's having fun. Can you ask her if she's prepared for any aerial maneuvers?" He asks, and hears Bob relay the question.
“Yes!” She cheers. “Yes yes yes!” The rustle of belts and many clicks sounds like she's put on the harness he specially rigged in the back seat. “Ready!”
“Okay kiddo, let's have some more fun!” Slowly at first, to not risk anything, he starts tilting the plane from side to side, then completely inverts, letting her see the landscape from above much easier.
He loses himself for a while, flying around with Mayano. It's just like he's back with a little Bradley, who was so impressed with everything he did in the plane. It's almost like Goose is back behind him, cheering on his reckless behavior, the same behavior that–
“Mav? You alright? Getting kinda quiet from both of you.”
“Yeah yeah, I'm here, sorry.” Pete responds, wiping a tear from his face. “Just got a little lost.” He levels out, taking stock of his surroundings. “We'll start heading back.”
To his surprise, he hears a sniffle behind him. Mayano doesn't start sobbing, but does sniffle some more, speaking with a very stuffed up nose. “She says this is what her dad would do whenever she was little. The same kind of loops and inversions, the same fancy flying. She's homesick.”
Pete pauses. “Can you tell her that I used to do this for my kid too? And if she's ever back here, she's free to come do this anytime.”
Phoenix relays it, instead of Bob, and Mayano bursts into tears behind him. A few clicks and belts rustling, and he startles at arms wrapping around him as much as they can. ``Love you.`` He says carefully, trying not to butcher the pronunciation.
``Love you.`` She repeats back.
—
“A race across the beach.” Nattie tells her, smiling. “I'm going to need you to kick their butts for me.”
Maya glances at all the people gathered. Most of them are men, only one other woman, but she isn't an uma either. She grins. This was going to be easy. They line up, with Nattie pointing to someone standing far away, waving a flag of some kind. All of them bend down and she startles, quickly getting into racing position. Maverick pulls up on the street right next to them and revs, before someone blows a whistle to start.
She races down the beach, heart and shoes pounding in sync. Behind her, she can hear most of the Daggers shouting in disbelief, easily left in the dust. The only real competitor is Maverick on his bike, racing on the street right next to her. Even if she doesn't understand him, she understands his meaning.
“C'mon kid! Is that all you got?”
Maya smiles. She finally remembers what it's like to fly.
And fly she does, right across the finish line.