Chapter Text
[ “Ghost rider, this is strike…We have unknown contact inbound, mustang. Your vector zero nine zero for bogey.” ]
As the group slowly regained consciousness, they heard this urgent call over the intercom. The familiar voice sent shivers down Maverick’s spine, and he quickly straightened up. Even though he just stumbled out of the F-14 with Rooster’s help, he’s ready for any incoming battle.
However, disoriented from the dizziness, as he looked around, Maverick realized he was no longer in the cockpit. Instead, he found himself in what appeared to be a … private movie theater?
[ “Who’s up there?” Another familiar voice chimed in.
“Cougar and Merlin and Maverick and Goose,” replied the first voice.
“Great. Maverick and Goose,” the second voice responded, sounding unimpressed. ]
Maverick’s eyes darted around the room as more and more people in this theater began to stir from their dizziness. He recognized all the members of the Daggers team, as well as some of the instructors and staff at Miramar base, and——Ice.
Ice. Iceman. Tom. HIS Tom.
Ignoring the sudden noise raised around him, Maverick couldn’t take his eyes off Ice. It had been four long days since he had last seen Ice. Four days had passed since he had buried his husband of over 30 years under six feet of soil.
In those four days, Maverick had missed Iceman every moment. He had spent Ice’s last days sitting by the hospital bed, holding his hand and talking to him, even though he knew Ice could no longer hear him. When it was time to say goodbye, Maverick had personally placed his metal wing badge on Ice’s coffin, hoping that wherever he was, Ice would always know that he was with him.
As he stared at Ice Maverick’s heart skipped a beat. The shock of seeing his husband standing before him was almost too much to bear. He knew that Ice had passed away and that it was impossible for him to be standing here, looking so full of life like the time when he had not yet been diagnosed with throat cancer. Thinking of this, Maverick couldn’t help but feel a pang of sadness, knowing that he would never see Ice again.
But he never had a hallucination before. Even during the days back in 1986 after Goose’s accident…he never ever was hallucinated. So maybe he was dead, he thought to himself. Maybe everything that had happened with the F-14 and Rooster’s attempt to save him was just a hallucination. Maverick couldn’t shake the feeling that he was experiencing some sort of afterlife. He turned to look at Ice, feeling a sense of peace wash over him. Even in death, Ice was still here with him, just like their wedding vows, when they promised to love each other until death do them part.
Iceman always keeps his promise.
Maverick’s heart filled with a sense of longing as he reached out to try to touch Ice’s hand. He wanted to hold him no matter what, hold him close and never let him leave him again.
And he touched Iceman’s hand. Maverick couldn't believe what he was feeling. He looked at Ice, then at their hands, then back at Ice.
“...H-How is this possible? I saw you die, Ice…Ice, I saw you take your last breath,” Maverick said, his voice shaking.
Ice looked at him warmly with an equally warm smile. Maybe he had been doing this for a while, Maverick was just too deep in his own thoughts. “I know, Mav, babe, but I’m here now, and that’s all that matters.”
Maverick felt tears streaming down his face as he embraced Ice. He didn’t care how or why Ice was here, all that mattered was that he was with him again. “Maybe I’m really dead.” He murmured.
“Nonsense!” He heard another familiar voice. He and Ice turned at the same time to find Bradley staring at them with red eyes. Phoenix was standing next to him, with Hangman and the rest of the Daggers team. “Dad, you’re not dead. I came to you. Remember? You managed to get us out of that hellhole! You’re not dead, dad–You're not dead—you can’t die!”
“Bradley…” Maverick felt something stuck in his throat, otherwise why would he feel choked up.
“Nice seeing you again, Bradley.” Ice said softly.
Maverick noticed another hint of he’s out here nowhere: Ice could talk again. This is impossible. It had been three years since Ice was diagnosed with laryngeal cancer, and the doctors had told them that Ice may never be able to speak again. Maverick had accepted the fact that he would only be able to communicate with his husband through sign language from here after.
He didn’t care if he was in heaven or in hell right now. Bradley was willing to call him Dad again for the first time in years, and Ice was alive and able to speak again—he was willing to stay wherever the place fucking is forever.
After some time seeing Maverick’s mood begins to stabilize, the group took a closer look around them. Maverick noticed that his first instinct wasn’t wrong: they were right here in a private movie theater, with a giant screen in front of them showing some kind of movie.
It was then that Maverick noticed something strange–the officer on the screen looked very similar to the officer he once had on a fleet, the USS Enterprise.
Well, if this was not his dear commander CDR Tom “Stinger” Jardian from thirty-or-more years ago, then who else would this guy be?
——I’ll be damned. Maverick thought.