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a-reader-and-a-writer-for-all · 2 years

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A Ghost From the Past (Part One)

Whumptober 2022: 8. Back from the Dead, 26. “Why did you save me?” Fandom: Top Gun, Top Gun: Maverick, Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw, f!reader Word Count: 3337 TW: Angst, Whump, Injuries, Past Death, Grief, Hurt/Comfort, Language

Part One, Part Two

As Rooster heads out to the tarmac for another day of training, he suddenly hears shouts of disbelief and calls for help. Picking up his pace, he reaches the door to the hanger just when Phoenix steps in front of him, blocking his path. Her face is drained of all color, and her breathing is ragged as she opens and closes her mouth, trying to find the words to speak.

Rooster gently places his hands on her shoulders, “What’s wrong? Are you okay?”

Phoenix takes a deep breath before saying, “You need to stay here. Something’s happened but no one knows how and until they do, you need to stay out of the way.”

“Nat, what’s wrong? What happened?” Rooster repeats. Nothing ever shook Phoenix; she was one of the calmest, most adaptable pilots he knew. If she was this rattled, it must be something big.

Biting her lip nervously, Phoenix says, “I know it sounds impossible and if I didn’t see it with my own eyes, I never would have believed it. But someone just appeared on the tarmac.”

“What do you mean appeared? Like an unauthorized plane-”

“No,” Phoenix cuts him off. “I mean, one minute the tarmac was clear and the next she was lying in a heap on the ground. She just…. appeared.”

Rooster feels his blood run cold as he works up the courage to ask his next question. Because somehow, he knows. As impossible as it is, he already knows. “Who? Who appeared?”

With tears in her eyes, Phoenix whispers, “It’s Echo.”

Rooster stands with his arms crossed over his chest as he stares at your sleeping form through the window of your examination room. You’re fast asleep, one leg thrown across the other as you lay on your side, your right arm curled under your pillow as your left arm reaches out in front of you. Towards the side of the bed Rooster usually laid.

He hears Phoenix approaching, but his eyes never leave you. Before she can say anything, Rooster bluntly states, “It’s not her. It can’t be her.”

Phoenix sighs. “I know. Yet based on all the tests they’ve run, it is her. Same blood type, same fingerprints, same retinal scan. From what they can tell, that is Echo.”

“It can’t be! She’s dead!” Rooster hisses as he jabs his finger at your sleeping body. “Two years ago, I held her in my arms as she struggled to take her final breath! Whoever that is, whatever that is, it can’t be her!”

Placing her hand gently on his shoulder, Phoenix says, “I remember. But I don’t know what else to say. It’s her, Rooster. I talked to her, and it was just like talking to Echo. She knows things that only Echo would know. However she got here, that woman in there is the one we lost. Believe me, I can’t begin to comprehend how this happened, but it did. And if that’s the case…. Maybe you got a second chance.”

“Fuck you!” Rooster rips his arm away from Phoenix’s grasp. “What? You really expect me to just accept this? To say screw how it happened and just buy into the idea that she’s back? This isn’t like she just disappeared or went MIA. We had a funeral. Her ashes are still in an urn at her mother’s house. I spent every day of the last two years forcing myself to leave her in the past and now, she’s just somehow back in the present? How am I supposed to buy that?”

“Listen, I can’t even imagine what you’re feeling right now. She was my friend, and this is overwhelming. But for you….” Phoenix sighs. “She’s been asking to see you….. a lot. You’ve been cleared to talk to her but only if you feel up to it. No one expects you to do anything, but I think it would help if you spoke to her. Maybe it’ll convince you that this is what it seems. A miracle.”

She gives him a small smile before leaving him alone to think. Rooster stares at you once more. It doesn’t make any sense. It seems like something out of the fucking Twilight Zone. And yet… if there was a chance — even a fraction of a percent of a chance — that it was true and the woman asleep on that bed was you, how could he walk away without finding out the truth?

Rooster quietly eases into the room, hoping to examine you closer before you wake up. Phoenix was right. You look exactly like the woman he said goodbye to two years ago. Every single detail was the same, down to the way you murmured softly in your sleep or the small scar on your finger from where you cut it while making him a surprise dinner for his birthday. He knows every inch of your body as well as he knowa his own, and everything is exactly as it should be, but he still can’t believe it is really you.

Standing with his back against the wall across from the bed, he clears his throat. Slowly, your eyes flicker open and you roll over to see what woke you. The second your eyes meet his, both of you freeze. Your eyes…. There is no doubt that they’re your eyes; the ones that captivated him the night you met, the ones he stared deeply into as you made love, the ones he watched the light fade from as he held you–

Rooster’s eyes dart to the floor, unable to hold your gaze. Yet he hears you exclaim in breathy relief, “Rooster, thank God! I was getting so worried.”

You start to climb off the bed but he stiffens and shakes his head. Glancing at you out of the corner of his eye, he sees you slowly lower yourself back down as your lip begins to tremble. “No, Roo…. Not you too. What’s going on? Why is everyone treating me like I have the fucking plague o-or I’ve grown a second head! A few hours ago, we were making out in front of the locker rooms, while Bagman and Phoenix teased us, and now…. You can’t even look at me!”

Rooster takes a deep breath and meets your gaze once again. Keeping his voice as steady and unemotional as possible, he says, “I need you to tell me what happened. How did you get here?”

“Wh-what do you mean ‘how did I get here’? I never left!” you cry out desperately. “I was on the tarmac heading to my plane for our next exercise when all of a sudden, I felt really dizzy and I guess I collapsed. The next thing I knew, I’m waking up on the ground and people were yelling and giving me these crazy looks. Then they rushed me in here and started doing all sorts of tests on me. But I told them I’m fine! It was probably just heat stroke or nerves or some shit. Now no one will tell me what’s going on or why they won’t let me leave this room. Why I couldn’t see you until now.”

Suddenly, you pause. Scooting to the end of the bed and leaning in closer, you say, “Roo, what happened? When did you get these scars?” You reach out to touch his face but Rooster jerks away just before your fingers brush his skin.

You collapse back onto the bed once more. “Okay, what the fuck is going on? You seem too repulsed to even let me touch you, yet hours ago you…” The first tears begin to stream down your face and you cry, “I don’t know what’s happening! Everything’s slightly off and no one will tell me why. Like, those scars are old– old enough to have plenty of time to heal. Yet, they weren’t there this morning. And this is the same Top Gun from before but I don’t recognize half the staff or officers. Did I hit my head when I passed out on the tarmac? Did I lose time or am I forgetting things or-or….. I don’t know. But Roo, I’m scared, and I need you right now, so please… just, whatever it is, please tell me what the fuck is going on.”

It takes everything in him for Rooster not to give in, crawl onto the bed, and gather you into his arms. There was nothing he hated more in the world than seeing you cry, yet he still can’t buy into the idea that this was really you. If he allowed himself to believe that and it turned out this was all a lie or a trick…. He wouldn’t survive that.

So, he remains with his back pressed firmly against the wall as he says, “We don’t know what happened or what’s going on. We don’t even know for sure who or what you are.”

You look as if he had just slapped you. “What I am? Rooster, what the hell does that mean?”

“The Top Gun cadet known as Echo died two years ago during a training exercise.” Your eyes grow wide and you shake your head but Rooster continues. “One of the fuel lines in her plane was damaged and her plane crashed.”

“Tha-that’s not possible,” you whisper. “You’re wrong.”

Rooster’s jaw tightens. “I was the first one to the wreckage. She wasn’t able to eject so I had to pull her out of what was left of her plane just for her to die in my arms minutes later. So don’t tell me I’m wrong.”

“But it can’t be… I’m Echo. Just ask me anything. Something about my childhood? How I got the callsign Echo? The day we meet at the Naval Academy? Our first kiss? The first time you told me you loved me? I can tell you anything you want to know. Do you want to search my body for something out of place? Examine every last inch of me? It’s not anything you haven’t seen hundreds of times before. If what you are saying is true, I don’t know how it happened or how it’s even possible. But I do know who I am. I’m the same girl you fell in love with years ago. Who has loved you back for just as long. Who’s begging you to believe me now. I’m Echo.”

Rooster stares at you long and hard for a moment before shaking his head. “No, it can’t be true. You are not my Echo.” Pushing himself off the wall, he walks towards the door.

But just as he wraps his hand around the door handle, your voice calls out from behind him. “Do you remember our conversation right before we walked out onto the tarmac? Because I do. For me, it only happened a few hours ago, so I remember every word.”

Without turning around, Rooster says, “Don’t.”

“You pulled me aside and reminded me that you loved me and as soon as Top Gun was over, you wanted us to start looking for rings.”

“Stop it!”

“And I said that was the stupidest proposal I had ever heard, but nothing would make me happier. Then you kissed me-“

“I said stop!”

“- and told me you would spend the rest of our lives making up for it…. Starting with that night.”

“That’s enough!” Rooster roars as he whirls around to face you, though you didn’t as much as flinch. Your eyes stare unblinkingly into his even as he towers over you, glaring and panting heavily.

Softly, you whisper, “I guess we never got that night, did we?”

He stares at you for another minute before backing out of the room. Rooster never takes his eyes from your heartbroken face until he is out the door and it closes, giving him a barrier between you. Only then does he allow himself to collapse against the wall, breathing heavily as he tries to process what you just said.

Rooster had never told anyone about the conversation he had with you just before he watched you climb into your plane for the last time. He had kept that moment, that promise buried deep down inside himself for the past two years, along with the dreams for the future that went with it. You had agreed to be his wife and when he watched you take your last breath, he hadn’t lost his girlfriend but his fiance. And no one knew. No one except you.

The next week is a whirlwind of activity. Not only is the team busy preparing for their upcoming mission, but they are also preoccupied with the mystery surrounding you. Hangman, Phoenix, and Coyote had all been with you and Rooster at Top Gun when you died. Hangman had even been the one to find Rooster cradling your dead body next to the wreckage of your plane. They all quickly buy into the story that the woman who appeared on the tarmac was the same one they had lost two years ago, but Rooster still refuses to accept it.

After a few days, the Navy reluctantly agrees to allow you back into a plane. After all, you had been the best of the best, practically guaranteed the top spot in your graduating class before your death. And with the mission coming up, they need someone with your talents. Seeing you in the sky erases any lingering doubt in people’s minds that this wasn’t the same Echo as before. The precision and skill are impeccable, with a flair only you can possess. Yet still, Rooster refuses to believe.

So far, he has done his best to avoid you, but your paths have crossed more than a few times over the last week. At first, you try talking to him or get him to believe your story. But after a few days of him ignoring you, you gave up. Yet, seeing you interact with Phoenix, Hangman, and Coyote, laughing and joking as if nothing had ever happened, it is agony for Rooster. But it did make his resolve slip just a little. Could it be true? He still didn’t believe it was really you but what if….?

There is a long discussion on if you should be allowed on the mission or not. After all, you are still legally dead and are no longer active in the military. However, as you point out, that is why you are perfect for the mission: if you don’t make it back, then it’s like nothing changes. So, you are chosen to fly cover behind Dagger 1 – 4, to Rooster’s dismay. He is already nervous enough about this mission and having you along just makes it worse.

However, the mission is completed perfectly. The squad manages to destroy the target just as instructed and they make it out of the valley safely. But the real trouble starts as soon as they fly out of Coffin Corner and into the path of the SAMs. Soon the sky is full of missiles and everyone is desperately trying to stay out of their way.

Rooster shoots off round after round of flares until he presses the button and nothing happens. “Shit! I’m out of flares!” He tries a barrel roll and a few other evasive tactics but nothing is slowing the missiles on his tail. “I can’t shake ‘em, they’re on me!”

Suddenly, his coms come to life. “It’s okay, Roo. I’ll give them another target.”

Panic seizes his heart as he cries desperately, “What? No, Echo, don’t!”

But your reply is oddly calm and resigned. “It’s okay, Rooster. After all….I’m already dead.”

Before he can say anything else, he watches in horror as your plane explodes in a ball of flames. “NO!”

But then Rooster notices a parachute open far below him. You got out this time! And as he turns his plane around, he swears to himself that he’s not going to lose you again.

Mav and the other Daggers all scream at him to continue on and head back to the ship, but he just turns the coms off. He doesn’t care what this will mean for him or his career. Right now, there is only one thing on his mind.

As soon as Rooster touches down, he is tearing through the woods screaming your name. He doesn’t think about the enemies in the area. All he cares about is finding you before it’s too late.

“Echo! Echo, where are you?” There is no response. Just the still quiet of the snowy forest. He screams again, “Goddamn it, Echo! Please! Answer me!”

“Rooster….” The sound is weak and pained, but it’s yours.

Scrambling towards the direction of your voice, he finally spots you propped against a tree with one hand pressed to your stomach. He is by your side in seconds, carefully removing your helmet and holding your face in his hand. “Are you okay? Why the hell did you do that? After everything I put you through for this last week, you still risked your life to save mine. Why?”

“Because I love you, you idiot. I always have.” You smile at him but it quickly turns into a grimace of pain.

“Here, let me see.” Rooster begins unzipping your flight suit and lifting up the shirt you are wearing underneath to examine the area under your hand.

You groan softly as he jostles you. “I don’t think there’s anything to see. A piece of debris hit me on the way down. I’m sure it’s just a bruise but it hurts like a motherfucker.”

Examining it, he can see you’re right. There might be some internal bleeding that he can’t detect, but there is nothing else he can do at the moment.

As he finishes rezipping your flight suit, you grab his wrist. With tears forming in the corner of your eyes, you say, “This is the first time you’ve touched me since I came back.”

Rooster nods, turning his hand so he can thread his fingers with yours. “I know, and I’m sorry. I was so afraid if I touched you, you’d disappear again.”

“I told you, Roo. It’s me. I swear. And I’m not going anywhere.”

He reaches down and cups your face in his hand, his thumb rubbing gently over your cheek. “I know it is, and I’m sorry I refused to see it before. I was so afraid of being hurt that I pushed you away. And because of that, I almost lost you for a second time. But never again. I swear.”

Bending over, he presses his lips against yours, and any last doubts he has about who you are fly from his head. Your lips mold perfectly against his just like always, and the kiss tastes undeniably like you. He tries to deepen the embrace, pulling you in closer, but the soft groan in your throat makes him pause.

Reluctantly, he pulls away. “I’m sorry. I hope that didn’t hurt you.”

You smile at him. “I’ve been waiting to kiss you again since the moment you walked into my examination room a week ago. A little pain was worth it.”

He smiles back and places a soft kiss on the top of your head. Then he settles down next to you and gently eases you onto his lap so you aren’t sitting on the cold snow anymore. You rest your head against his chest as his arms envelop you, and he whispers into your ear, “I love you, Echo.”

He can hear the joy in your voice as you respond, “I love you too, Roo.”

Hangman finds you an hour later. The scene he stumbles onto is eerily similar to the one he witnessed two years ago with Rooster holding your limp body in his arms. But this time Rooster’s face isn’t streaked with tears and shattered into pieces. No, this time, he looks up at Hangman in relief and nods with a broad smile across his face. This time, you are still alive and this isn’t goodbye.

Part 2 out now!

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a-reader-and-a-writer · 2 years