Disclaimer: I do not own the Incredibles.
There isn't a word to describe the feeling.
Transient, Helen can't do much of anything except pick up on the wind that seems quite determined to hit her in the face repeatedly. It perceives like a dream she's inches away from uncovering. Gradual to figure out.
And then her eyelids open slowly, one and two. The blinking is only temporary, the act before the colors start to collide into tangible shapes. She picks up on the land – no, water – below her. Trying to remember what just happened. Why she's falling out of the sky.
The screaming interrupts. Her face turns left, looking to her daughter's alarmed visage as her life depends on it. Then she gazes right, where her smaller but younger son is also fearful. Fearful of the waves they are so close to hitting faster than she expects.
It's Helen's worst nightmare. Her children being afraid. Her whole mission as a mother has been to protect her kids, to keep them at least a little more insured when the bad things happened. And she couldn't do that.
But she sure isn't going to let this be the end.
In the flash of an instant, her arms zip out and back, picking up both screaming children and embracing them right into her stomach. Their wails intensify as they get closer to the water, but Helen is ready now. Her arms and legs constrict on her kids like snakes practicing their moves. Her back becomes lighter than her entire body and ripples. Before the kids can finish their current wail, it gives way and she enlarges into a mighty parachute.
They soar up, higher and higher until their mother of a parachute relaxes and begins the long descent down. It's slow, and already shocked by what's happened, the two children look up to her. It's a different view for them, as most times all they'd picture her as would be the stern but caring parent.
Her body's wide and her face stands against the wind feeding into her. She's their guardian angel now.
"Brace yourselves," she says in a pressured tone.
The kids turn back and gaze down at the approaching waves. Right as they hit the water, Helen lets go to fold into the ocean. She's tired, her body is racing with effort and she doesn't know what to do next. But at least she managed to protect her children.
They're all alive.
A/N: Thanks for reading!