ℳ𝒾𝓇𝒶𝒸𝓁𝑒 𝒩𝓊𝓂𝒷𝑒𝓇 𝒯𝒽𝓇𝑒𝑒 | Top Gun Maverick

Chapter 13: She promised

Snow-white slowly started to regain consciousness, her eyes slowly opening and adjusting to the light. For a few seconds, she wasn't able to get up, but she managed to gather up the strength and slowly sat up, trying to remember what had happened. It was all a bit hazy.
She took off her helmet to let herself get a better understanding of the surroundings so that she could assess the situation.
She wasn't far from the aircraft, which means she must have ejected just in time to survive, but judging from the blood flowing from her forehead, she must have gotten a pretty bad concussion.
She looked at the parachute. There was a huge gash in it, probably because of a tree.
She grabbed it and dragged it towards the aircraft to place it near it. That way, if the enemy found it, it would look like she didn't make it out alive, meaning they wouldn't go after her, giving her a better chance to make it back home in one piece.

She noticed more blood on the snow and the aircraft. It was not coming from her forehead, though it couldn't have been.
She checked her body for signs of injury when she saw a pretty deep cut in her arm. It did not hit any arteries, luckily, but she still used some of the parachute as a bandage to try and stop the bleeding the best she could.
She looked at her surroundings some more, there was a forest not too far from where she was, it would provide better shelter in case of an enemy attack if they, somehow, manage to spot her.
As she walked further and further, she made sure to leave no tracks behind her. The snow and wind made it slightly easier for her to do so.
She was feeling tired and lightheaded. It was like the world was spinning, but she kept on fighting it until her legs eventually gave in, and she collapsed onto ground below her.
She rolled on herself. She was now facing the blue sky above her, as her back was laying on the cold snow.
The sky reminded her of her friends, of Rooster, Maverick, and Iceman. That's when she started sobbing, uncontrollably. There was no way she could make it back to her family, not without a miracle...miracle number 3.

"Talk to me, Dad." She whispered, looking at the sky, hoping for some sort of sign. That's when she heard someone shout her name.

"Emily! Em!" The voice was distant, muffled, but she would recognise that voice anywhere.
"Maverick!" She murmured, getting up, trying to find where his voice came from. She tried to shout back, God knows she wanted to scream her lungs out, but she couldn't. She tried and tried, but she couldn't physically scream. The cold temperatures and the physical trauma prevented her from doing so.

"Emily, where are you?" His voice echoed in the empty field.
Heading towards the sound of his voice, she started to see him from afar. He was near her aircraft.
She saw the way his shoulders dropped when he took a closer look at her aircraft. She was confused at first, but then it hit her. He must have thought she was dead.
Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard the sound of a helicopter. It was heading towards him.
"No...Maverick!" She started to run towards him, instinctively, but the chopper beat her to it. It started shooting at his aircraft and then at him, but he was quick and hid behind a fallen log. Snow-white froze at the sight.
She was helpless, she couldn't do anything to help him. The chopper moved in front of him, ready to shoot but her heart got the best of her brain and she started to run again towards him, when suddenly the chopper blows up, making her stop in tracks. She looked up to the sky.
It was Rooster. He went back for them.
A SAM went after him, but he had no flares or ways to evade it, and as she could only watch as it hit his plane, her heart stopped beating.

Maverick started to sprint towards Rooster's plane, and Snow did the same.
She ran as fast as she possibly could, heart pounding in her chest. Her vision began to blur, but she didn't care. She had to make sure Rooster was ok.
She ran until she couldn't physically keep going. She stopped, using a tree for support. She was panting. She didn't know where she was, but it didn't matter. She took a deep breath and regained control of her breathing.
She started running again, but there was no sing of Rooster nor Maverick.