𝘾𝙍𝘼𝙎𝙃 𝘼𝙉𝘿 𝘽𝙐𝙍𝙉 - 𝙏𝙊𝙈 𝙆𝘼𝙕𝘼𝙉𝙎𝙆𝙔

𝙏𝙃𝙄𝙍𝙏𝙀𝙀𝙉

It was the first day of Ivy being back in her jet after the accident with her and Theo. She was nervous to say the least but she was stubborn so of course she didn't tell anyone and instead just got on with it. Chaos was sat in the cockpit clipping her helmet on while staring at the controls as the ground screw prepped the aircraft for the flight.

Chaos looked at the cockpit as if it was strange territory because it was. She didn't have her lucky charm with her and that was Bullet. Instead she had Sundown in the backseat. It didn't feel right "Come on, kid. Get in there. Engage" Jester said to himself as he flew a bit behind her.

"All right you got a bogey at ten o'clock low Chaos. You've got the angle piece of cake" Sundown told her but Chaos wasn't in the right head space for this. For once in her life she was afraid.

"Take the shot, take the shot" Jester mumbled, now wondering if it was a good idea to get Chaos back up in the air so soon.

"You can engage any time, Chaos" Sundown spoke again but all Chaos could hear was screams. They were her screams. She was shouting for Bullet.

"Bullet!" She screamed quickly pulling him into her arms "Theo! Oh no!" He was limp in her arms as she saw the blood coming from his head "Oh god! Wake up Theo, wake up! Come on, you can't die here! You can't!" She cried helplessly while firmly rubbing on his sternum to hopefully wake him up.

"God damn it! Come on Theo, come on!" She held Theo tighter when she heard a small groan "Theo?! Hey, can you hear me? Please tell me you can hear me?!"

It was a whole minute before he mumbled "I love you Ivy...I'll be okay I promise" Ivy snapped out of her trance when she heard Sundown talking to her again.

"I'm sorry Bullet but I can't do this" She whispered before jerking the stick hard right and taking them away from the bogey at great speed, startling Sundown.

"What? Hey, where in the hell are you going?" He asked while unclipping his mask.

"It, uh, it didn't look good"

"What do you mean it doesn't look good?" He exclaimed "It doesn't get to look much better than that!" Ivy didn't reply as she kept her focus on getting them back on the ground.

Her legs were like jelly when she hit the tarmac and her face was all hot but she didn't care as she walked away from the plane. Sundown was right behind her "Hey Chaos, we could have had it. Hey! We had a good shot Chaos"

That was Ivy's last straw as she turned around and grabbed Sundown by the collar, pulling him forward slightly "You call 'em from the backseat. I shoot 'em from the front when I am goddamn good and ready, you got that?" She clenched her jaw in anger before shoving Sundown away from her and picking up her helmet that she had dropped before walking away.

As she was getting closer to walking into base she saw Maverick, Goose and Ice walking towards her and by the look on their faces they saw everything. She sighed and instead walked straight past them and into the locker room like they weren't even there.

Jester and Viper watched Ivy walk away as they stood near an F-5 "She can't get back on the horse, skipper. She just won't engage"

"It's only been a few days" Viper cut in.

Jester sighed "I've seen this before" 

"So have I"

"Some pilots never get it back" But Viper wasn't having it. This was Duke Mitchell's kid they were talking about, of course she had it in her "Keep sending her up"

Chaos grabbed her stuff out of the locker and threw them into a duffel bag. Slamming her locker shut, she grabbed the bag and put it over her shoulder as she held onto the handles before brushing past Wolfman who watched her leave knowing he couldn't say or do anything to change her mind.

The three pilots who she meant everything to came rushing in to find the locker room empty aside from Wolfman who had a solemn look on his face "Guys I'm sorry but you're too late. Chaos just quit"

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𝙎𝘼𝙉 𝘿𝙄𝙀𝙂𝙊 𝘼𝙄𝙍𝙋𝙊𝙍𝙏 𝙏𝙀𝙍𝙈𝙄𝙉𝘼𝙇

Maverick, Goose and Iceman were hurrying through the crowd of people as they searched for Ivy in the huge terminal. They moved past bench after bench, looking at every place in the airport where she could possibly be before they headed to the bar.

Ivy was there, sitting alone in a booth with her duffel bag beside her, staring into a drink. The three men were quick to walk over to the booth and take a seat across the table from her "So you were just gonna leave without saying goodbye?"

Chaos looked up at the sound of her brothers voice. She shrugged "I would've called. At some point"

"Cmon Ivy don't do this" Maverick practically begged "Look, I remember my sister a couple of weeks ago. Somebody with fire in her. Bigger than life. And now here you are twisting straws in an airport lounge. You don't even have a ticket do you?" He knew he was being hard on her right now but sometimes you needed tough love to get through to people.

Chaos scoffed while shaking her head "Don't give me that crap Mav! He was like a brother to us and if you think I can just get back into a jet and be okay again then you must be as delusional as Viper" 

"Sweetheart" Ice leaned forward slightly as his hand came up to rest on-top of hers "We've seen all the evidence and it's not your responsibility and you know that. Deep down you know it was an accident and you couldn't of done anything to prevent it"

"Ivy, you are one of the best pilots in the navy. Okay what we do up there is dangerous but we've got to go on. And if not for yourself then do it for Bullet. We've got to do it for Theo" Maverick said.

Ivy shook her head as her hands trembled "It's over guys, it's just over" She finalised.

Goose sighed, glancing over at Maverick for a second "To be the best of the best means you've got to make mistakes and start over again. Theo would want you to go on Ivy"

"You think I don't know that Goose?" She snapped at him but Goose brushed it off knowing she wasn't in the right headspace right now "God if I wanted help, really, I would've asked for it"

"So what we're too late? You're already gone and you haven't learn a damn thing while we've been here except how to quit" Maverick went on even when Iceman and Goose told him to cut it out "You have that manoeuvre down real good don't you?"

"It's because I'm afraid Mav! That what you wanna hear?!" And the damn finally broke "I'm fucking afraid that when I get into that jet, me and my RIO aren't gonna come home!" Ivy cried "I can't tell another family that their dad isn't making it home to them Pete..."

Maverick was quick pull his sister into his chest as she buried her face in his shoulder "You don't have to Ivy because you're gonna get through this. We all are..."