Unconditional Adoration

Grand Tour the Eighth / Afterlife Part Three
-Lapierre Cottage, France; August 2025-
Yancy wakes up to one hell of an ache in his right arm and leg. He absently scrubs away the eye crust and yawns before— "Merde."
"Raleigh, did something happen?" Mako, the kid's co-pilot, pokes her head into the room, concerned wrinkle between her eyebrows.
"'m not Raleigh," he sighs as he drags a hand down his (Raleigh's) face. "Rals is ...elsewhere for th' time being."
The corner of her mouth turns down a millimeter. "Yancy."
"Got it in one." He runs fingers through his hair. "Lemme get dressed an' I'll make us some breakfast." Ducks his head. "Since I'll be like this for a bit, I'd, uh, like to get to know you better."
Mako eyes him thoughtfully. "When will Raleigh be back?"
"A few hours, give or take. Nothin' longer than a day, if you're worried." Yancy peeks under the covers—good lord, those are some nasty circuitry suit scars, but at least Raleigh sleeps in boxers. "This is his body, after all. 'm just borrowin' it. Unintentionally." He sighs as he tugs on blue sweatpants and a light grey sweater (one of his, but, hey, it fits the kid now), shuffling out of the bedroom.
Mako watches as he bustles around the tiny kitchen. "You are very familiar with this place."
Yancy shrugs, retrieves a canister of flour from a cupboard beside the oven. "Rals 'n I grew up here when we weren't followin' ... him." Nabs eggs from the fridge, powdered sugar and raspberry jam from a cabinet, nods at the feeling of a question answered emanating from her as he snags the wooden mixing bowl. "Bastard died when Kabiri hit Seattle last year."
Mako smiles faintly as she fixes coffee for one with precise movements.
Yancy preps the water for tea in the battered red kettle.
He waits for it to boil, leaning against the doorway, basking in the warm glow from the bit of Raleigh still awake as he watches her.
He gets why Rals loves her. She's no-nonsense, kick-ass, and obviously sweet on his little brother. Hell, even if they hadn't been romantically involved, she would've stuck around through the night-panicking and nightmares. He can tell that much.
Yancy approves, naturally.
He mixes up the crepe batter while also scrambling some eggs, adding a decent amount of milk for fluffiness. He cracks an egg into the batter and then spreads it out with the ladle in an expanding circle to cook it slowly.
Mako watches the process, growing comfort clear in her posture and Yancy cheers internally at the progress.
He takes a moment to whip egg whites into an airy cream, then taps raspberry jam into the center of the crepe and rolls it up. He plops a dollop of cream on top and drizzles a bit of the jam over it, before handing it over and waiting for Mako to take her first bite.
She cuts off a piece, dips it into the jam and cream before placing it in her mouth. Her eyes widen as she chews and swallows. "Is this your skill or Raleigh's?"
"Bit of both. We spent a bit of time at Mémé's knees, for both la canne and cooking. Maman and Mémé taught us well," Yancy hums as the eggs come off the little gas stove and he cuts into his own food.
Mako helps herself to generous portions.
Yancy eats with more composure than Rals, actually chewing his food before swallowing. He reaches for the blue cup reflexively, inhaling the hazelnut scent of the coffee with an appreciative sigh.He dumps creamer and a sugar cube into the cup and takes a drink after it turns a pale caramel color.
"I know." Mako studies him as she reaches for the tea he'd made for her. "You're ... more reserved than Raleigh." She inhales deeply and hides a smile behind the mug. "Hojicha. He remembered my favorite tea."
"The sneaky shit packed it after your visit with Jazzy 'n Charles." Yancy snorts at a memory of Raleigh squeezing under a Shatterdome bunk to find...speaking of which—"I'm gonna go grab something that'll help you tell us apart."
.
He digs around in Raleigh's ruck and snags Hermann's feather, still on its braided cord after all these years. Yancy slips it over his head and walks back into the kitchen.
Mako raises an elegant eyebrow.
"This—" Bobs his head toward the coppery spotted feather. "—is mine only. Rals won't wear it. I know I'm in Rals' body and it's weird for you—for all of us—but maybe this'll make it easier," he says as he clears away the dishes with her help, the cord's tiny bell jingling as he moves.
Yancy starts the water in the sink and adds soap.
Mako retrieves a dish towel from a drawer, keeping her eyes—very subtly—on Yancy the whole while.
He smiles faintly, dunks a plate, scrubs it free of crumbs, passes it to her.
She accepts, wipes it dry with no waste of motion. "How are you sharing one body?"
"No clue." Yancy shrugs. "Best guess? It's the technopathy link. It broke when I ... well, I guess I didn't die-die, but, umm, separated from my body." Hands over the last plate. "I know you can feel the rough edges. It's less jagged than it was, but it's still pretty sharp." Yancy sends a flicker of warmth her way.
She squeaks and presses the sensation gently back to him. "I feel it now," she murmurs. "I thought your link was dormant ...."
"Not completely," he counters as they retreat to the window seat in the living room. "I can sorta piggy-back on Raleigh's link to you."
Mako hums thoughtfully.
"Cait was tryin' to figure out how this—" Waves a hand near his head. "—works before I died. Not sure how far she's gotten; you might wanna ask her—" Yancy takes a deep breath. "—if she's still around."
Mako gives him a warm smile. "Raleigh and I visited her and Sergio at her university two months ago." She takes a drink of her still-steaming tea. "How much do you know of what has happened since Anchorage?"
"I know a lot of Jaegers fell." Yancy frowns at his remaining coffee as he thinks over the new Guardians. "I know we won, 'cause otherwise we wouldn't be talkin' now."
Mako straightens her spine. "All of the Jaegers are gone, as are most of the Rangers."
Yancy swallows. "Who's left?"
Her attention slides from Yancy to the window. "Hercules Hansen. The Jones brothers. Xie Ming. Lightcap and D'onofrio. Raleigh. Myself."
Yancy's heart hurts. "That's all?" he croaks.
Mako nods sadly.
"What about S—" The name dies in Yancy's throat.
Mako sips tea and waits.
Yancy takes a breath to center himself. "That explains all the new faces where I'm at. I think one of 'em is yours."
"Mine?" Her brow furrows in confusion.
"Mm-hmm. Tall, stern-looking marshal?"
Mako inhales sharply.
"Yeah, he's gettin' used to stuff. Has a few things left to learn, though, so don’t expect him any time soon."
"You've seen him?" Tears balance at the corners of her eyes.
"Can't say exactly where, naturally, but he's okay."
Mako swipes at her eyes and when Yancy opens his arms, she buries her face in his shoulder.
"Shhh, shhh, shhh. He's alright, I promise." Yancy rubs her back, presses a kiss to her hair like he used to do with Raleigh.
She snuffles wearily as she pulls away, taking the handkerchief he wordlessly offers.
"Thank you."
"What for?"
"Telling me I'll be able to see him again, even if it is only in dreams," Mako replies with a watery smile. "I won't mind the wait."
Yancy smiles warmly, gently leads her to the bathroom. "How about you splash some water on your face 'n then tell me all about what happened after I slipped this place, hmm?"
She squeezes his arm and steps inside, her posture full of relief.
Now, for some paper and a pen.
Yancy writes—
Hey Rals,
Apologies in advance for the case of body-snatching. Wicked scars by the way, kiddo, very impressive.
You definitely did the Becket Special. Enough mush to fill a river and then some. I think this one's a keeper.
Glad to know some of the old crew's still around even if we're fewer than ever before.
Russians told me to tell a little birdie that he's doing just fine.
P.S. Take care of my feather with a toothbrush now and again. Would it kill you to maintain the damn thing?
.
Raleigh wakes up on the window seat, head a little sore and his right side aching fiercely. "Maks?" he rasps out, his mouth feeling like it was stuffed full of cotton. Saiai?
"Raleigh, your brother ...."
"Took over for a bit, I guess." He sighs. "'m a little sore. Would you go get the heated blanket?" he asks as he sits up, the scars protesting his every movement. Yancy must've given him one hell of a workout.
Raleigh glances down and does a double-take at Hermann's feather. He pulls it over his head, dangling the feather and tiny bell before setting it on the table next to the window seat.
Mako pads into the room, blanket draped over her arms, eyes red-rimmed.
"Here." Raleigh pats the seat next to him.
She tucks herself against him, her head pillowed on the left side of his chest.
"What'd Yan say?"
"That Sensei was with him."
"Oh." That would definitely explain the red eyes and the happy yet subdued light in her eyes. He wraps his good arm around her to hold her close. "Lemme guess, he's got a bit left to go b'fore he c'n do what Yan does?"
"Yes. I can wait and continue with my life. I know Sensei would not want me to dwell on it," Mako solemnly replies as she laces their fingers together. "He was impressed by your scars."
"Yeah, most people are. They suck to have but very cool." Raleigh laughs as he pillows his chin on her hair. "Did you know it's cool now to get scarification or a tattoo that looks like 'em? Don't know why you'd want 'em, but there you go."
"I don't understand and, eventually, I suppose the world will forget about it." Mako sighs as she traces the scars hiding under Raleigh's sweater with a gentle touch, the heat blanket having relaxed the hurt from his right side.
"That photoshoot for Vogue was maybe not a good idea."
"It generated publicity to build support to restart the program
"We need to make sure it doesn't happen to anyone else," he slurs slightly. "Mmm, you're gonna put me back to sleep, Maks."
"We have enough time for a nap."
"'kay." He curls around her and slowly falls back asleep, content.
.
He wakes up again around two, his phone ringing. Raleigh peers at the number before recognizing the number. "Hey, Cait," he greets, gently carding Mako's hair.
""Were you still asleep?"" She sounds concerned.
Who is it?
Cait. Not sure what it's about. Raleigh yawns. "Mm-hm. Just a little nap."
""Oops! I finished the analyzing those scans we ran with our mutual friend's help and wanted to share.""
Raleigh snaps fully upright. "What'd you find?"
""You're lit up like a Christmas tree, kiddo. Apparently this technopathy thing—which, by the way, is a great name for it—is more physiologically complex than we thought,"" she replies.
Mako gently squeezes Raleigh's hand.
He puts the phone on speaker. "Yeah? Complex like how?"
A keyboard clicks on Cait's end of the connection. ""This is some seriously science-fiction stuff. I mean, if someone nefarious ever gets their hands on this, it could be bad for the remaining pilots.""
"Technopathy only occurs with highly-Drift compatible pairs," Mako counters as she leans against Raleigh.
""That's the rule of thumb, covers most examples, but there're a couple exceptions.""
"Like Bunny, right?"
""'Bunny'?" A beat. ""Oh! Pietr! Yeah, he's one of them, but he's different. You had to Drift with him a lot before any residual link would stabilize, like his brain has some kinda non-stick coating, which is probably part of why he was able to Drift with so many partners with only a couple of hiccups. Even then, only the Chucks really—and really only my Chuck if you—"" The keyboard noises stop. ""Where was I?""
"I light up like a Christmas tree?"
""Right! Your scans showed enough of the sci-fi stuff for two connections. Different than anyone else I have data for, although a lot of the Christmas lights have the same pattern as what's-his-face from Sydney—""
""Jason Egan, Cait,"" amends Sergio.
""Jason! Right!"" cheers Cait.
"Hi, Sergio," says Raleigh.
""Hey, kiddo.""
""So! Jason! Jason's brain has a lot of the same patterns as yours, Raleigh, but he and Lachlan don't even Ghost, which is weird, so our initial hypothesis is those common paths are the ones that create the part of a link that can be sustained even if the Drift partner dies, but it's hard to know for sure with only—""
"You're saying I have working links to both Maks and Yan." Raleigh finishes.
""That's the working hypothesis.""
"So, umm, hypothetically... I could have episodes?"
"'Episodes'? What sort of episodes do you mean? Like, seizures?""
"Days where I think I'm—" Raleigh bites his lip almost hard enough to draw blood.
""Yancy? Totally. We've seen it at least twice before.""
Raleigh's voice cracks a little as he echoes, "Twice?"
""Well, it might not be exactly the same thing, but even though Pietr didn't pick up much from his partners, Chuck-the-Hansen spends a—"" A deep breath. ""—spent a few hours every so often deaf and nonverbal—still had his verbal internal monologue, though, so it wasn't like they completely—"" A breath. ""My Chuck ... well, she kinda relived ... you know and then insisted his birthday this year was hers.""
"Oh," breathes Raleigh. "Mine are, umm, a little more intense than that."
""Really? That's so cool.""
Raleigh blinks. "Uh, if you say so, Doc."
""How often have they happened?""
"A few times over the years," he admits warily.
""Don't worry about saying anything personal. Brawler's got this call encrypted six ways to Sunday,"" Cait reassures.
Raleigh takes a deep breath. "I spent some time living as Yan. I don't remember much of what he did, but there was this bar fight in Alaska. All I remember is biting Logan Jones and paying for his taxi back t' the Icebox," Raleigh sighs as he rests his chin on Mako's crown.
""That's where he picked up that half-moon scar? Your teeth?"" The amusement's clear in Sergio's voice.
Raleigh rubs the back of his neck. "Yeah. Apparently, 'cording to Gips, I fractured a couple of ribs, dislocated his elbow, and broke his jaw."
"He mentioned that fight to me during our visit. It seems he wanted to evade a Compatibility trial with me and succeeded," Mako sighs as she pecks Raleigh's chin lightly. "Though I doubt we would have Drifted well, now that I look at it."
""I told the brass that, but they didn't listen. You two probably couldn't have even initiated a neural handshake.""
"Waitaminute." Raleigh turns to Mako, mimes cleaning out an ear. "Someone wanted to pair you with Logan?"
"Yes," she replies. "Command thought Jackson's ability to fight was compromised. As the highest-scoring cadet with a CORO in his safety margin, I was first choice to be Logan's co-pilot in Vulcan Specter." Grins at Raleigh. "Rather than Drift with me, he went into Anchorage looking for a fight—"
"And found Yancy."
""And then a bed in Icebox Medical,"" sighs Cait.
Raleigh snorts a laugh. "Is it just me or is his solution to every problem a fight?"
""He's getting better,"" protests Sergio. ""We've got him weaned onto obscene gestures now.""
""And he knows an amazing number of those,"" adds Cait. A few more keys click. ""Anyway, that's what we know from your scans. You're as good neurologically as ever, gaps in memory notwithstanding. I'd like to have you back in sometime when you're all settled in for a few more tests.""
"You guys hear any word on Herc?" Raleigh asks on impulse.
""Nothing but a rumor Jamie—Vulcan's old Squire—heard that Herc's hiding in one of the few remaining asscracks of the world, but nothin' concrete," Sergio answers.
Raleigh pretends not to hear Cait's muttered addition, instead says, "Thanks, guys."
"You're welcome. Enjoy your tour and send us postcards," Cait hums.
The phone chimes a happy disconnection.
Category:Ficlet
Category:Chuck D (mention)
Category:Chuck H (mention)
Category:Yancy is dead
Category:Becket boys are technopathic
Category:Adventures in the Afterlife
Category:Afterliving storyline
Category:Pages in need of tags
Category:Grand Tour storyline