The Monsters In Men: Pacific Rim [On Indefinite Hiatus]

Prologue

Prologue

There are monsters at our door.

What about the monsters in our hearts?

Manila, February 2014: The Kaiju Hundun laid waste to the metropolis, killing thousands, and rendering a thousand more families homeless and separated from each other.

While Hundun was taken down by a single nuclear tactical weapon, the blast, along with the foul remains of the monster from which the deadly and toxic remains of Kaiju Blue—kaiju blood—ushered forth, killed the environment and made Manila and surrounding cities uninhabitable.

It lasted for a time; chaos and government inefficiency kept families apart from as long as two months to two years. Children who had dead or missing parents were sent to makeshift orphanages in more habitable areas of the archipelago, looked after by United Nations volunteers as well as the local social service. Some children were sent back to their biological families; some were sent to adoptive parents, while some remained in foster homes until they reached eighteen, when they were free to do as they pleased, including signing up for the Jaeger Program.

The Jaeger Program was founded in the latter part of 2014 as a response of the United Nations to the ever-increasing Kaiju attacks, manned by the Pan Pacific Defense Corps. Over thirty Jaegers were manufactured and deployed from eight main Shatterdomes. Each Shatterdome was located in certain breach points where Kaiju mainly appear and attack.

It went well for a time. It was nearly every young boy’s, as well as some of the young girls' dream to be part of the Jaeger Program. Most of the time, they join out of revenge or for the thrill of being in close combat with the Kaiju. Some of the time, it was for a selfless cause, and those who join for that sake were few and far in between.

That was so, in the case of Mishael Gerard Bonifacio, 19 years of age when he enrolled in Jaeger Academy; and Nathaniel Louis Aguinaldo, 23 years of age when he enrolled in Jaeger Academy.

Their names carry a dark secret, one that went down history, and which historians themselves continue to contend with passionately.

Cavite, 1897: Two great men are pitted against each other through an Election which would establish the first Philippine Republic. One man was a great leader and the founder of a secret society that fueled the Philippine Revolution; the other man, a general who had won battles in his homestead against the conquering Spanish military forces. Emilio Aguinaldo’s victories over Andres Bonifacio’s Supremo superiority—and Aguinaldo had won. Bonifacio was denied even the least position in the new government, and as he felt cheated of rightful privilege, he declared the Elections null and void.

Aguinaldo and his officers perceived that Bonifacio would be a threat to the new Philippine government, so the latter was arrested and eventually, sentenced to death. There were rumors that all Bonifacio merited was exile, but Bonifacio and his brother were brought to their grisly end in the mountains of Maragondon, Cavite.

Aguinaldo’s new government was widespread. Family and friends of Bonifacio went into hiding and self-exile, some even changing their last names for protection.

The names Aguinaldo and Bonifacio put together were tainted with a certain, poisonous friction. The Aguinaldos led free lives; the Bonifacios slowly emerged from hiding as the years passed, as generations passed. When they crossed paths, they would be civil. Sometimes, not so civil.

To add fuel to the fire, historians were pecking on the details of Bonifacio’s trial and death, poring through letters and documents and memoirs, reading between the lines, thirsty for truth and justice. The two concerned families were at the fatal brink between peace and war.

The past was past, right?

The historians could have their theories and heydays, and the two families could simply ignore it all or suffer. It was never easy.

Perhaps it never will, more than a century after the fateful death of the Bonifacios which sent dominos falling, teetering, one by one. History was a melting pot of sins and secrets.

Sometimes, the monsters in men’s hearts are greater than the monsters that show up at our door.

These two boys, rescued after the Hundun desolation, could prove that monsters should be sent back to where they belong: in the deep depths of the Pacific Rim, into the Breach, and into hell. They could prove it… or they couldn’t.

-End Prologue-

A/N: Was rather getting sick and tired of the Aguinaldo vs. Bonifacio rift (even though I'm more pro-Boni), so Imma settle this in my head, while fangirling over giant mechs saving the world from giant monsters. Win-win for the muses.