The Pilot of the Shadows

Last Gift

Winter woke up to her mother quietly coming into her room, opening the curtains to let the morning light in. She groaned at the bright light that now shined on her face, rolling over in protest.

"It's time to wake up, Wint. You got your field trip today!" Her mother sat at the edge of her bed, gently rubbing her arm to wake her. Winter only groaned in protest again. "You don't want to be late for the trip, now do you? I made your favorite breakfast for you too. If you hurry up, then you can eat it while it's warm." Her mother left her room to let her wake up on her own now. Winter slowly opened her eyes, letting them adjust to the bright rays of light that streamed through her window. Once her eyes were adjusted to the light, Winter sat up and stretched before finally getting up to get dressed for the day. She put on what she considers her pilot outfit that she and her mother would joke around about. The outfit consisted of a pair of black tech cargo pants with a black tank top shirt, a dark grey ball cap and black fingerless leather gloves. Winter looked at herself in the mirror and smiled wide. She looked fierce and badass from her usual outfit, which was jeans and a large light great hoodie. After she finished getting dressed, she heads downstairs with her luggage and her dad's helmet.

"Morning, Mom. How do I look?" She chuckled as she set her things down at the door, turning to her mother after. Her mother looked at her, up and down, before giving her a wide soft smile.

"You look incredible, dearie! You look like your ready to face any battle coming your way." Her mother set her knife down, dried her hands, then walked over to Winter to give her a hug. "I beg that Mark will take on a look at you and realize his mistake for bullying you" Both Winter and her mother chuckled at that thought, hoping that her statement was true.

"The bus should be here soon" Winter smiled as she gently pulled away from her mom. "Meaning I should eat up my breakfast before it pulls up." Her mother nodded and went back to prepare breakfast for herself while Winter sat down, eating her breakfast quickly. When she had finished, Winter quickly got her shoes on, grabbed a jacket that was put in her bag just in case. The bus finally pulled up to Winter's home, honking twice to let her know that it was there.

"Well, there's the bus. I'll see you in 3 days, Mom! I love you!" She picked up her things, her dad's helmet and smiled at her mom before heading out the door. The young girl walked out to where the bus driver had opened a side compartment for her to put her stuff in. Once she placed her bag down, she turned to wave her mother goodbye then got on the bus. Winter heard small short gasps as she walked down the aisle a bit to get to an empty seat, sitting down and placing her dad's helmet on her lap.

'This is will a long bus ride if they continue to whisper about my dad's helmet.' she thought, hearing little hushed conversations about the helmet she had placed on her lap. Thankfully, Winter was able to ignore them all the way to the ship loading bay. Once the bus had parked, all the students filed off the bus, grabbed their luggage, and went to go stand in front of the ship pilot who didn't speak until they were all present and silent.

"Good morning, kids, how is everyone?" The Pilot spoke in a thick accent that Winter didn't recognize, but everyone around her responded with either good or a meh. "So you all know that we will be heading to Typhon today. All the necessary procedures have been put in place in a secured location for you all to set up camp. If you have to leave the camp for anything at all then you will have to take a soldier with you, doesn't matter what the situation is. There are Prowlers and Flyers that will be ready to take you away and eat you. When you go out as a class for explorations there will be a squad of soldiers that will accompany you, is that understood?"

Everyone from her class nodded in agreement, even Mark which surprised her the most since he never usually is quiet during a debrief, he always has something snarky to say. The pilot soon spoke up again, this time, it was directed at her.

"Hey kid, is that a pilot's helmet? Where did you get that?" The class broke away to reveal her silently standing by, holding her dad's helmet close to her chest.

"It was my dad's before he passed away. He requested that it be sent back home when he died. It was his last gift to me last night. I thought it would be okay to bring it along..." She had looked down at the helmet, thinking that she would be asked to leave it behind but, to her surprise, the pilot simply put a hand on her back and guided her to the front of the class.

"Is it okay if I show the class something cool about that helmet?" He spoke quietly to her at first so the others didn't hear, after she nodded in agreement, he then looked up at the class with a hand on her back still. "You all may now know that the helmet that this young lady holds is a Pilot's helmet. It is used by those that have been linked to a Titan, a neural link. Both Pilot and Titan share thoughts and live feed of the battle. But one cool feature about every pilot helmet is that it will size itself to fit the pilot."

He looks at her and nods to her to put on the helmet, in which case she did so. The inside of the helmet visor was black for a moment, powering on and slowly sized itself to fit Winter's head while also showing the world around her in a slightly blueish tone.

"Woah! It fits perfectly now! And the visor was black for a second but now I can see everything." She looked around in excitement before hearing a small voice, that sounded male, from the helmet.

"Transferring to new Pilot. Name: Winter Redwood. Gender: Female. Age: 17. Rank: Pilot. Welcome, Pilot Redwood." She panicked, looking at the other Pilot in shock and confusion.

"I-it called me Pilot! And it knows who I am?!" She couldn't think of a logical explanation for what the helmet said to her. "But I'm not a pilot! I'm only 17."

"It's probably the helmet malfunctioning from being in battle so much. We can get it fixed later for you on Typhon." He smiled at her before he looked to the class. "Now, we shouldn't keep your trip waiting! Make sure to put on the helmets that will be provided to you in your seats. And Winter? Grab your stuff. You can sit with me in the cockpit."

She nodded, grabbed her stuff, and followed behind the ship pilot, noticing an angry Mark glaring at her from the corner of her eye. She didn't care, she had so many questions for the pilot and she could ask them without Mark judging her. Once she got in the cockpit, she looked around in amazement. The pilot coming up behind her and spooking her out of her thoughts.

"Whoops! I'm sorry, didn't mean to scare you there." He chuckled then sat down in the pilot seat and patting the co-pilot seat beside him. "Don't be shy, have a seat. I know you're going to have a lot of questions, I'll try and answer them the best I can for you." She nodded and sat down, strapping herself in then looked at the Pilot and saw that his helmet was different than the one she was wearing.

"How come you wear a different helmet than the one I have?" She asked, her voice shy and semi-quiet. She was unsure what to say. "And how do you know so much again Titan Pilots? Did you used to be a Pilot? Did you know my father?"

"I wear a different helmet because I'm not a Titan Pilot." He chuckled, starting up the ship and started ascending into the air. "I know so much because few of my close friends are Titan Pilots, they have told me some of what they know, and as for you father? I did know him. He was a great pilot and friend, spoke lots about you actually."

"He did?"

"Oh yea, he loved you with all his heart. Even kept a picture of you in his Titan. That bastard was stubborn but fierce." He let out a deep sigh, flying to Typhon. "He was and still is greatly missed."

"I wish I knew him as much as you did. He seems like a great person" She sighed softly and looked out the front window.

"That he was, that he was..."

[1547 words, proofread]

A/n
Hello, my fellow readers. This chapter was a bit longer but I hope you like it. A little bit of a wholesome moment with Winter and the Pilot which made my own heart swell. Hope to see you all in the next chapter!
- Snow ❄️