The Mom Son Saga - Gilda

It was cold… and humid. That’s right… he had just gone through a cloud… and that meant… “fuck…” He tried to yell, but only a whisper came out. He tried to sit up right after, but he felt too heavy to lift himself. He opened his eyes, but nothing made sense. There was so much light… everything was white. Keporus closed his eyes again, a ringing in his ears becoming louder and stronger by the second. Judging by how it felt, he was laying on hard clouds… so the floor of the stadium probably.

“Hah…” he weakly laughed, as realization dawned on him.

The sound of fluttering wings and yelling suddenly became clear above the ringing on his ears. The yelling didn’t make any sense, but it was getting closer. Kep tried opening his eyes again. This time he could make out some details. Firstly, he was laying on his side, and his right eye only caught the white of the clouds, while his left one revealed the blue of the sky and several shapes darting towards him. He could make out one of them, the one closest to him, front and center, Gilda.

Knowing that his mom was on her way made him exhale a breath he didn’t realize he was holding, and relax. Everything would be ok, he thought, as he closed his eyes and let sleep take him in.

“No…” He heard his mother whisper. He opened his eyes again. She was now sitting directly beside him, and she was… crying? Impossible, Gilda is the strongest person in the world, nothing ever fazed her, and he had never, even once seen her even shed a single tear. No… there’s no way mom is…

“Shh… it’s ok dear… you did great.” His mother said in the sweetest tone he had ever heard, as she reached to hug him. “I’m proud of you…”
Keporus hugged Gilda in turn, and cried quietly into her bosom.

The Wonderbolts arrived a second later, and quietly saw the scene from the side. Rainbow Dash was the first one to take a couple of steps forward, tap the mother lightly on the shoulder, and guide her to the first aid tent that had been set up in case of accidents.

“How is he?” Rainbow Dash asked, concern evident in her voice.

“I… I don’t know.” Gilda replied on a very soft tone, very unusual of her brash friend. “The doctor took him from me and told me he seemed alright, but we’ll know for sure later.”

“Ok… that’s a relief. I… I have to go back Gilda. There’s still some prospects about to…”

“I understand Dash. Go.”

“I’ll be back as soon as possible!” Dash said as she lifted off.

Gilda was still in a bit of a shock. Not only from seeing her son so close to serious injury, but also from seeing him miss the finale of his routine. This close to success, and everything went to shit. She was worried. Worried of what would this accident mean to Keporus. After all, even if the physical damage heals, there’s no guarantee that…

“56’s mother, right?” A medic looking fellow coming out of the tent asked her. “He’s currently out, but he’s completely ok and should be able to walk off the stadium on his own later.”

“Good” She whispered. “That’s good.” She said louder this time.

“You can come in now. He’s behind the first curtain on the right. If you excuse me…” He said as he walked towards the field. “I gotta go talk to Captain Spitfire.”

Gilda didn’t waste a second and quickly entered the tent. It was dimly lit, and it was divided into about ten small rooms, composed of basically a bed and a set of curtains to shield it. Judging by the closed curtains, only three were occupied at the moment. Gilda moved quickly and quietly towards the curtain that the doctor had indicated.

She was afraid. Afraid of what she would see when she opened the curtain. She didn’t want to see her son like this. She really didn’t.
Moving the curtain just slightly, Gilda peeked inside the room.

And there was Keporus, covered up to his waist with bedding. His forehead, both arms, and wings were bandaged. She didn’t know what she was expecting, but seeing him passed out on that bed, all bandaged up… Gilda felt her eyes get teary again.

“Damnit…” She whispered as she entered the small room. “I’ve cried way too fucking much today. What would you say if you saw me, Kep?”
It wasn’t even the first time she had seen her son injured, she thought as she pulled a chair from the corner of the room next to Keporus’s bed, but this time… this time it was on the big stage. It was for a shot at his dream.

Gilda took a deep breath and looked upwards the fabric ceiling. She just didn’t know what went wrong. Everything was coming along so great, and he looked perfect on the final descent. But… she failed him. They could have studied more the last day, see if there was something different to do. Changed the routine.

Maybe she should have told him more. She just thought telling him that he had pulled the fucking impossible would be too much for him. But...

She directed her gaze back to Keporus. The doctor had taken his shirt off to bandage him. There was some dried up blood in his hair and on a couple of red spots in the bandages, but he seemed to be mostly alright. His face was relaxed, which was a good sign too. She smiled a bit at the sight. He’s going to be so pissed he bled over that shirt, Gilda thought a bit calmer now, as she saw his clothes lying on the floor.
She looked back at him, and put her hand on his cheek. Yeah… the dream is still alive. He fucking rocked the presentation and even with the hiccup on the end Rainbow had pretty much confirmed that he was in. Yeah… he will be a Wonderbolt. A Wonderbolt!

“He’s going to be the best flier of this generation! The best in history!” She mumbled with a big smile. Yeah, she was hard on her kid, but it was because she couldn’t separate herself from him. She kept seeing herself in everything he did… and she knew how she turned out without parents to guide her. She loved the fuck outta him, and she was pretty sure he knew it, even if she didn’t get too explicit about this too often. The two had a very trusting relationship, but they didn’t express these affections too often. They just… loved each other, and that’s it.

She grabbed his hand and put her own on top of it, gently rubbing it with her thumb. “Sigh…” She still didn’t know what had gone wrong. In the few minutes that had passed from the crash to now she had reviewed the routine constantly, and all she could be sure about is that the ending went… wrong, somehow. But, the height, the speed… everything was perfect!

Well… whatever. They’d just have to try it again, but from higher up this time, so she had enough time to catch him.

Some time passed in almost complete silence, Keporus’s breathing the only thing filling the small room. The shock had almost worn off by now, and Gilda was content with just sitting beside her kid keeping him company. A bit of movement was happening outside the little room with people coming in and out, but nothing that concerned her, until Rainbow and Spitfire poked their heads in. The three of them looked at each other in silence for a second, and Rainbow pointed outside, leading her friend to a more private setting. All three of them walked outside the tent. And as soon as they got at a bit far from the tent Spitfire asked:

“Gilda, was your kid going to do the Sonic Rainboom?”

“Yes.”

“Has he done it before?”

“Once, in the exact same conditions, height, speed and a cloud to help him in...”

“These are not the same conditions.” Rainbow interjected, looking nervously at her friend.

“What do you mean?”

“These are not regular clouds Gilda. These…”

“These are special stunt clouds. They are less dense and explode in a wider area.” Spitfire concluded.

Gilda kept quiet at this revelation.

Rainbow took a step forward. “We should have published this. I’m really sorry we…”

Gilda took a step forward too and punched her in the cheek, knocking her down.

“WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN STUNT CLOUDS. WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU THINKING?!” She yelled down at her friend.

Rainbow sat up and looked up at her friend. “I know you’re angry…”

“OF FUCKING COURSE I’M GODDAMN ANGRY, YOU COULD HAVE KILLED MY KID!”

At this, Dash looked down. “I know. And I’m sorry.”

“YOU’RE SORRY? YOU’RE FUCKING SORRY?” Gilda shouted at her and took another step towards the downed Wonderbolt, pulling her fist backwards.

“I am G. I truly am.” Rainbow replied, directing her gaze once again to her friend’s golden eyes.

Both looked at each other’s eyes for an instant. And Gilda exhaled all the air off of her lungs. Then she breathed deep. “It’s not your fault Dash.” She said as she walked towards her friend and offered her hand to her. “I’m sorry about the punch.”

Rainbow took her hand. “It’s ok G. If this was about Chrom I’d have probably done the same.” She said as Gilda pulled her up to her feet. “But fuck… Did you have to deck me that hard?” She muttered while rubbing her jaw.

“Didn’t really think about it, you know? And c’mon I know you’ve eaten shit much harder before. Don’t tell me you’ve softened up!” She joked feeling a pang of guilt.

“Oh you fucking know it you bitch.” Dash replied with a smile, still rubbing her face.

“If you two are done…” Spitfire said, her voice coming from behind Gilda “I really have to go back to help with the evaluations.”

“Sure thing Firebutt. Thanks for coming to tell me this.” Gilda replied, without turning around.

“Least I could do. We’ll make sure stunt clouds are never used again for the tests ever again. It was a stupid call. And… I am sorry about this Gilda. I truly am.” She said, her voice almost perfectly firm.

“As long as you fix it, it’s ok. Keporus will be fine, the kid is fucking strong, you know?” She replied once more. Gilda turned halfway to look at her professional rival. “Thanks for coming to tell me this personally Spitfire.” And with that she offered a hand.

“No problem feathers. As I said, least I could do.” She shook the hand and started to leave. “I was also here to stop you if you wanted to kill Rainbow!” And with those words she took off at full speed.