THE NEXT MORNING, SKYE DIDN'T THINK SHE WAS READY TO GRADUATE. "YOU HUNG OVER?" SHE HEARD katia ask her when she walked out of her bedroom, and she shook her head, putting a hand to her temple anyway.

"nah, i didn't even finish a full beer." skye replied.

katia smirked. "too busy at the piano with bradley?" she dragged his name out as she frequently did, laughing as skye rolled her eyes.

skye and katia were soon wearing their matching white suits, smoothing their sleeves to perfection and straightening their pins and wings of gold. they both stared at each other in the mirror of their bathroom for a moment, attempting to process what was happening.

they'd been waiting their whole lives to be in top gun. their fathers had united throughout the program, and had always told them about how much they loved the process and the program.

and now here they were, and they were finally realizing that the months they'd spent with their fellow aviators had slipped past them almost instantly.

"you look like your dad." katia said after a moment.

skye smiled. "so do you." she then chuckled. "you're slaying for real."

"haha, very funny." she replied sarcastically, fixing her hair before putting on her black-rimmed hat and handing skye her sunglasses.

they drove side by side in their motorcycles to the outdoor ceremony, amused by how many of their fellow pilots they saw, all wearing the same exact suit and hat as them. the two women took their seats near the back, arriving just on time.

skye caught rooster's eye as he turned in his seat, looking around for a moment before his eyes settled on her. he then smiled, and phoenix turned next to him, also waving at them. skye had forgotten until then that both pilots had given her and katia offers to join their squadrons. that was a problem for another day, she thought, as panther started speaking.

"ladies and gentIemen," he said, "here at top gun, we challenged you to fly against the very best. now, we ask you to take that expertise, and keep the tradition alive."

the pilots and their families began clapping, and skye turned over her shoulder to look for maverick and ice. sure enough, both men were sitting in the pre-set chairs, joined by the rest of katia's family.

skye had somehow managed to drown out most of what deadzone was saying until he grabbed the plaque from a table behind him. "every class here at top gun is awarded with a top pilot, and his or her wso or rio, if applicable, will receive their named engraved on this plaque."

panther, who was standing next to him, smiled. "it is my honor to present you with this class' top pilots." he turned the plaque around for dramatic effect. "skye 'riot' mitchell and katia 'havoc' kazansky."

skye and katia leapt to their feet, and their jaws dropped as they moved to hug each other, laughing and nearly falling over one another in their excitement and shock. they moved over to panther and deadzone, shaking hands with both of them before eyeing the plaque.

sure enough, both of their names were engraved on it, and katia's name was only a few rows away from her father's. skye could hear the people around her clapping, but she was only focused on katia, who was holding the plaque with the biggest smile on her face.

as sad as it would've made her to admit it, skye didn't think she'd seen katia this happy in weeks; holding the plaque with her name on it and grinning over at her. skye put a hand on the other side of it, smiling down at it before holding up her hand in excitement.

other aviators soon made their way to congratulate them individually, and most of their words only required a curt nod, a smile, and a thank you. rooster, however, picked skye up and spun her around, making her laugh.

"you did it!" he cheered as he set her feet back on the ground. "i'm so proud of you, you deserve it so much." he said, turning to hug katia as well.

she smiled up at him. "thanks, roost."

skye smirked as she looked over to hangman, who was standing behind rooster. "i see dead people." she joked, remembering when he had made a bet on his life that she and katia wouldn't receive the award.

he moved closer to her, a smirk playing on his own lips. "i'm sorry i doubted you, mitchell. you really do deserve this."

she wasn't quite sure how to respond to this, so she just extended a hand, which he moved to shake. "good game."

"katia." the sound of jake's voice was enough to make skye almost throw a punch. "i just wanted to apologize for everything."

skye moved to look over at him, and she almost wanted to ask rooster to hold her back from punching him.

"good job on the.. the plaque. i know you really wanted it." jake continued. "and if you want, maybe you could.. i don't know. maybe we could try again sometime."

katia's eyes narrowed, but she remained completely calm. "jake, i have nothing left to say to you. i have never in my life met someone so self-centered and yet so idiotic. oh and, in case you were wondering, my father wasn't impressed with you or your flying, even less so when i told him who you were. and so, with that, please get the fuck out of my face, сука."

rooster, who was watching the conversation from the other side of skye, leaned down to her. "what did she just say?"

skye chuckled. "she called him a bitch in russian." she put an arm around katia, who had turned her back on the stunned jake. "that's my girl."

phoenix then ran over to them, tackling them with a hug. "i'm so proud of you guys!" she cheered, making them laugh. "finally, some girl power in this place."

everyone slowly moved away from them as maverick and iceman approached, both eyeing their daughters with the same prideful face. maverick's smile was more of a smirk, of course, as he put an arm around his daughter's back, pulling her in for a hug.

"when did you become an even better pilot than me, huh?" he joked, pulling away to smile at her.

"learned from the best." she replied.

ice still wasn't speaking, but he put his arms around katia and looked like he was about to start crying. he had written both girls handwritten graduation letters, and he took his time placing both cards individually into their hands, smiling at them before giving them hugs.

skye read her letter, and both she and katia started dying of laughter as they saw that ice had signed both of them as slay. 

their fathers and family left soon after, and skye and katia were standing with rooster and fanboy in the midst of the other aviators, discussing if they were going to go anywhere after the ceremony to celebrate. their conversation, however, was stopped short when panther approached the recent graduates.

"ladies and gentlemen." he said, nodding at them before extending a smile to katia and skye. "congratulations." he said to them. unfortunately, i have to interrupt the party. some of you are going to have to depart immediately. we have a crisis situation."

skye's brows furrowed as she turned to look between rooster and katia, who stood on either side of her. "a crisis situation, sir?" 

panther held up the papers in his hands. "riot and havoc." he handed them to them. "hangman. rooster." he handed the men similar papers, and skye opened hers to reveal a description of the situation. 

skye looked over at katia. "we're assigned to the same plane, thank god. rooster and hangman are backing us up."

"not even a second to breathe, damn." katia replied.

skye found her gaze shifting over to rooster, who was still reading and rereading the paper in his hands. he looked over at her immediately, and she smiled in a way that she hoped was reassuring. "i'll see you at the carrier." she said to him, watching as he nodded somewhat solemnly.

"one of our communication ships has become disabled and has wandered into foreign territory." an admiral was explaining when all of the called aviators had gathered. "a rescue operation is to begin within the hour. your mission is to give air support to that rescue. there are fifth generation fighters in the area, and tensions are high. if you witness a hostile act, you will return fire. ladies and gentlemen, this is the real thing. this is what you've been trained for. you are america's best. make us proud"

"no pressure or anything." skye mumbled to katia as they both stood, preparing to go get geared up. she was stopped as she saw rooster, who stopped looking around the room when his eyes landed on her. 

he then walked over to her, and skye found herself meeting him in the middle. "hey." he breathed. "this is kind of scary."

she almost laughed. "it is." 

"in case something happens here.." 

skye shook her head. "shut up. don't even suggest something like that. we're gonna be okay."

rooster dropped his head before nodding it. "i know. but, just in case-"

"no. you can tell me when we get back." she said, feeling her heart literally skip a beat as she looked into his eyes. 

he nodded again. "okay." it was silent for a moment before he frowned. "be careful, okay?"

skye smiled. "yeah. you too."