As time passed by, the easy joy of parenthood presented its own unique challenges. They started having minor and persistent problems with Catra that made subtle cracks in the otherwise loving and unwavering relationship Elena and Rod shared.
"Dear… I NEED ASSISTANCE!" the cheetah woman's voice echoed from another room.
Rod knew the sound well. She was struggling heroically to calm down Catra, who had been crying for more than twenty minutes straight.
As this domestic chaos unfolded, the man found himself instinctively hiding behind a nearby wall and desperately trying not to be seen.
"If there is a god… PLEASE HELP ME!"
His thought was a silent prayer that escaped him. Something that changed when his face turned completely white.
Elena had finally found him and her deadly eyes fixed on his hiding spot.
Having a baby was a journey of profound joy, but also immense difficulty and relentless exhaustion. It was so tiring that more often than not, both Elena and Rod would simply collapse and fall asleep on top of each other in their bed.
Mercifully though, things gradually became less stressful as Catra grew to the tender age of eight.
The small girl could play more physical games with her parents at this age: such as hide and seek.
With surprising agility for an eight-year-old, she had climbed silently behind his back and clung there as her father searched the entire house with exaggerated theatricality, peering under couches and behind curtains. Of course, it had been Elena's clever idea.
"Three, two, one, ready or not, here I come!" the man's voice boomed while filled in playful anticipation.
Elena watched in the distance with a knowing smile as Catra gave her a thumbs up from her precarious perch behind Rod.
"I wonder where you could be! I know you are close!" the man declared, filled with feigned bewilderment and trying his absolute best to act as if he didn't know Catra was there.
Then came a pivotal moment that shifted their family's dynamics.
Rod was formally hired by the GrandNorth government and bestowed with the esteemed title of "Gun Hero."
On the grand television screen in their living room, his image was broadcast being celebrated by thousands of cheering civilians who lived throughout the vast country of Grand North.
Elena and Catra's prideful faces watched from the comfort of their home as a shower of glittering confetti rained down in the distant celebration.
"And Grand North's gun hero is officially Rod Winger! For his speed and gun ability! The government of Grand North is proud of selecting the first official Gun Hero since 300 years ago! Mistress Alex Anderson came down to congratulate him herself," the news reporter's formal voice announced while both of them cheered wildly.
"Let's cheer for daddy, okay?"
"LETS GO DADDY!" Catra yelled as her small voice soared.
The small girl's ethereal voice transferred Rod's mind to another fond yet slightly chaotic memory.
Both the cheetah girls were standing beside a large sniper rifle held by the dinner table while the gun hero was slowly collecting the trash from their bathrooms. He was completely oblivious to the impending chaos.
"And this is the scope. You can look really far if you use it correctly. It's perfect for hunting and shooting from long distances," Elena explained as she leaned in, her finger tracing the precise contours of the sniper's accessory.
"Woah!"
After some seconds, Catra slowly reached out her small hand and her fingers delicately pressed onto the trigger.
"That's the trigger. When you squeeze it, the fire weapon springs to life and shoots!"
Rod finally emerged from the bathroom and saw the scene unfolding before him.
"HEY, HEY, NOT IN THE KITCHEN TABLE!" the man exclaimed as Catra's small finger squeezed the trigger and the weapon fired with a deafening roar.
BANG!!
Chaos erupted. Rod quickly used his power to catch Catra, his lightning-quick reflexes preventing her from injuring herself.
Meanwhile, Elena's face showed a derpy expression after she suddenly remembered that she had forgotten to turn the safety on.
Then, Rod's mind shifted to one final happy memory.
They had gone back to the cherished hilltop where he and Elena had shared their very first date, embarking on an early morning run before deciding to spread a small picnic there.
Both the adults sat comfortably on the lush green grass at the very top of the hill while Catra played nearby with a colorful balloon, her efforts valiant but futile as she tried to make it pop.
The cheetah woman smiled as a soft profound contentment graced her features and she rested her head gently on Rod's shoulder. Both of them felt an almost perfect peace at that moment.
But that precious and fragile peace would not last for long.
Both Elena and Rod stood at the entrance to their daughter's room as their figures were framed by the soft glow from within.
They were as happy as any parent could be, their hearts overflowing with love while simply watching their beautiful daughter slowly drift in a deep sleep.
"She's beautiful, isn't she?" Elena commented a little weakly.
The woman instinctively clutched onto the door frame, feeling her body become unexpectedly unsteady.
"Yeah," Rod responded with a loving murmur as he gazed at his little girl.
"Remember how I always say we are free spirits?"
"Yeah."
"Well… she is more than that."
"Something like a super duper free spirit?" Rod asked as a playful chuckle escaped him.
After hearing such a ridiculous question, Elena gently bumped her elbow against his arm despite her growing weakness.
"Don't make me… sound silly…" she responded with barely a whisper before the grip on her arm suddenly failed and she began to fall backwards.
"She's our child after all. She IS special. She's gonna grow into-" the gun hero said with fatherly pride before being abruptly caught.
His eyes snapped to Elena and widened in pure horror.
"Elena?" he asked.
"ELENA?!"
"¡ELENA!"
The world had shattered in that instant.
Painful hours stretched in the sterile waiting room of a hospital as the tick of the clock felt eternal. Then he heard from the doctors. But when the words came, they were a cruel, cold blow.
"I don't know how to tell you this, Rod… I'm really sorry… but Elena… Elena has a tumor… we… the tumor is really advanced and it's located in her brain… if we attempt to take it out, we run the risk of brain damage…"
Rod just stared at nothing. His mind was completely numb and his body just generated a single agonizing tear that formed in the corner of his eye.
A few months later, the hope had dimmed but not entirely faded. Elena laid in her stark hospital bed as her spirit battled a relentless foe.
Inside the room, a scattering of brightly colored and optimistically handwritten "Get well" signs were left beside her by her loving family. But the cheetah woman barely registered them.
Instead, her fingers clasped tightly around the familiar cold steel of the pistol Rod had given her on their wedding day. A day she would soon forget.
She was in so much agonizing pain, but her fierce protective love for Catra and Rod drove her. She didn't want them to know. Didn't want them to see the raw, unbearable agony that consumed her.
Suddenly, a soft and familiar knock sounded on her door. It began to open slowly before her heart leaped. She saw them. Her beloved husband and her beautiful daughter.
"Mommy!" Catra exclaimed with a joyous burst of love before she launched herself forward and threw her small arms around her mother in a fierce hug.
"Hey, small one," Elena responded softly, infused with a tender smile that bravely masked her agony.
"Daddy said that maybe later we could go to the park again!"
"Only if you help your daddy do the dishes," the woman said with a playful tone, desperately attempting to weave a thread of normalcy into their unraveling reality.
"Deal!"
As Catra spoke, Elena and Rod's eyes met while a silent understanding passed between them.
They both knew with a crushing certainty that this joyful promise, that innocent dream, would never happen.
Both of them came closer until their foreheads gently connected. It was as if they were compelled by the world itself.
"I love you both so much…" Elena thought while watching them slowly begin to leave her room.
"Please take care of each other… for me…"
Soon after, with a quiet, devastating finality, Elena died.